What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
Of course, poets continue to do this all the time, which is why poetry is a constantly meaningful and renewing practice. Earliest was Dickinson and the bible. In high school, I heard Gwendolyn Brooks give a reading. Never will forget that. Denise Levertov’s “Stepping Westward” is still enormously meaningful to me, both in terms of content and cadence. Then I discovered Robert Creeley and his economy, his intensity, his necessary but unshowy innovation. So many miracles have followed: Sappho, Lorine Niedecker, Jack Spicer, Beverly Dahlen, Barbara Guest, Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop, Jean Valentine. Lately, I am deeply moved and catalyzed by Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s Rocket Fantastic.
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