On Becoming a Poet: 25 Original Interviews and Essays

"ON BECOMING A POET gratifyingly is not a how to for becoming one. These are the stories of what transpired as and when the realization occurred. Or: "The first time it happened," to use Mary Mackey's phrase. "It"--the proximate cause, and then the poetry itself--was a pepperwood tree. It was a Mrs. Sullivan who stopped to care. It was the nomination of Robert Bork. It was the school chorus as an opt-out from gym. It was a translation of a Tang dynasty poem into English. Find these instigat...