No one wants to be last in any competition. Right? Only about 20% of people are concerned about being the winner or loser.

Writing the poem felt askew of appropriate ... to be ok with that implication. For me, and for the poem–and for the book as a whole–the permission and call to speak is central to its themes.

They sometimes look similar to a short paragraph in a piece of writing. Poems often have a rhythm ... _I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, _ And what can be the use of him ...

For me, conceptualizing my poems is often simultaneously a refuge ... If I were to forget him, he would disappear. And I write about him so that my grandchildren, and their children and ...