Whats the toughest part of starting a new poem?
Most of the time, a poem arrives when I am busy doing something else. A first image, or first line, or title will materialize as I am walking the dogs or cleaning the stove. The toughest part, I guess, is making such moments a priority– stopping whatever I’m doing to write that little puff of possibility down. And then, to borrow one of William Stafford’s gems, I follow the golden thread and let the poem lead me wherever it wants to go. On your website, you write, “Because I believe that telling the truth is the most important choice we can make in reclaiming our lives, I write.” How do you reconcile telling your truth when it involves other friends, family members, or acquaintances? Juicy question! I have so much to say on this topic, but I’ll attempt to be concise here. Art transforms a literal moment into a figurative representation– so even the most confessional poem can not be looked to as a factual accounting of a moment in time– but rather about what that moment signifies. Wh
