What was it like making selections and deciding which poems to include in the book?
It was fun, because all the poems had been out there already, so I didn’t worry about it in quite the same way as a new book. I also had fun looking back with some distance and perspective on my earlier work. Rather than send the book out to other people for their opinions, I just chose my own personal favorites and what I thought were the best poems. For a while I put off publishing the selected poems because a lot of people feel it’s an endpoint or a big monument—almost a headstone. I found that I don’t feel that way. I see it as sort of a hinge moment: it’s a door closing, but then it frees me to go on and do whatever I want next. In a way it’s nice to have one part of my career end and to be able to begin creating a whole new body of work. What new writing are you working on now? Well, I have titles. Right now I’m finishing a fiction collection, and then I’ll begin working on my next poetry book in the fall, when I think my work may move in a new direction. I can’t really control o
