Interview with Brian Henry
I think the benefits of creative writing programs far outweigh the negatives. I’d prefer having more writing in the world than less. Those who complain about there being too much poetry tend to be the same people who want to control what gets published and noticed, and of course they’re trying to impose their aesthetics on the world at large. Everyone tries to do this, to some extent, but when so many people are doing it, the individual gate-keepers become less important, and I see that as a good thing. American poetry used to be so feudal, and that has changed quite a bit in the past 15 years, thanks in part to various small presses (print and online).
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Interview with Bret Anthony Johnston
As for South Texas, I’m fascinated by its complexity, by its splendor and magnificence, by its brutality and emptiness. Every time I come back to Texas, I’m struck by its expansiveness, its sheer openness, and how it makes me feel so vulnerable. Maybe it’s some kind of evolutionary residue, how animals feel so exposed and endangered where there’s no place to take cover. I’m interested in putting characters in that situation, physically and emotionally, so I’m interested in the characters that the Texas landscape spawns. I’m quite sure all of my work won’t be set in Texas, but right now, the place and its people are wholly and inherently captivating to me.
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Interview with Charles Simic
There’s not enough translation being done. We are once again an insular culture that has little interest in other literatures. Plus, people know foreign languages less and less. Of course, there are many poets out there worth knowing.
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