Jason Tandon : part four

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Reading other poets always prompts me to consider and re-consider the ways I think about writing. When I began writing poems, I wanted to write like every new poet I read. What I did not realize was that I was essentially saying: I want to write like anyone but myself. I still experience this want from time to time, the desire to imitate out of love or admiration for someone else’s style, but I learned that “finding my voice” meant getting comfortable with not reading or seeing poems that looked like mine. “Finding my voice” meant accepting that I write what I write, and the poets I read write what they do! If they did not, we would not have the rich diversity of poetry that exists.