What poets changed the way you thought about writing?
I was in my late thirties, having bounced around a bit and decided to take some creative writing graduate courses at Salem State College (now Salem State University). In one of those classes the professor (Rod Kessler) assigned a book of poems by Philip Levine, New and Selected Poems. I remember reading a poem called Starlight. When I finished all I could think of was my father. There was an immediate connection to Levine’s poems, their storytelling, narrative nature. Years later I read an interview with him and he said, "I want to bring poetry to people who have no idea how relevant poetry is to their lives." That was me.
Over the years I’ve read so many poets who have lifted me up and inspired me. A few that jump out are Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Laura Boss, Gerald Stern, Niki Giovanni, Franz Wright, Afaa Michael Weaver, Naomi Shihab Nye and Ruth Stone.
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