poetry mini interviews

How does a poem begin? With curiosity. And discomfort. With a question. Or an image. A poem begins with the ordinary. The extraordinary. T...

What other poetry books have you been reading lately? Here There Was Once a Country (Vénus Khoury-Ghata, trans. Marilyn Hacker), Kumukand...

What poets changed the way you thought about writing? Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Frank Bidart, Carl Phillips, George Oppen, Gwendol...

What do you find most difficult about writing poetry? Nothing about poetry is easy. I fail constantly. That there is great joy in the fail...

Shara Lessley is the author of The Explosive Expert’s Wife and Two-Headed Nightingale , and coeditor of The Poem’s Country: Place & ...