EXCERPT FROM THE INTERVIEW

The more poetry resists mass culture, the more potential it has to contribute to the cultures of the Americas. Poetry explores those things that can’t be said, or aren’t able to be said, within traditional modes of expression. What is poetry? It’s not the talking, it’s not the vernacular, it’s not the vocabulary, it’s not the style, it’s not the meter, it’s not the meter-making argument, it’s not the subjectivity, it’s not the anguish, it’s not the grief, it’s not the melancholy, it’s not the sadness, it’s not the exuberance, it’s not the happiness, it’s not the cheer, it’s not the excellence, it’s not the craft… it’s the timing.