We have a lot of long narrative poems written in the 20th century, but they're not very well known, and they're not read by very many people.
I considered going to film school; I took a course in film and was very interested in filmmaking as well as film writing.
Distance not only gives nostalgia, but perspective, and maybe objectivity.
I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.
I encourage students to pursue an idea far enough so they can see what the cliches and stereotypes are. Only then do they begin to hit pay dirt.
A lot of my students are Asian-American, and it has been thrilling to watch them break through the stereotypes into something alive and surprising.
I seem to keep returning to my father in poems because his personality was so extreme, so driven. He did everything to excess.
Neither of my parents has been very sensitive about my writing.
Maybe the example of Southern fiction writing has been so powerful that Southern poets have sort of keyed themselves to that.
If people associate me with a region, that's fine with me.
With prose you can incorporate more details, develop scenes, sustain the tension in a special way. Prose has its own speed.
Young writers find their first audience in little magazines, and experimental writers find their only audience there.
In the late 60s and early 70s, I did get interested in voices, and in narration and embodying the voice, making the poem sound like a real person talking.
I tell students they will know they are getting somewhere when a scene is so painful they can just barely bring themselves to write about it. A writer has to draw blood.
The Black Mountain poet I like most is the early Creeley. Those early poems seem very lyrical and very traditional, with a lot of voice and character.
