Grateful for Poetry

"I suspect every poet understands intuitively that writing poems is a kind of theft in its essence and sometimes in the actual circumstances of its production. I’m stealing time to finish my next book from activities that might benefit me or my family or my students. Writing poetry is a form of confiscation, its returns always speculative. Usually its returns are paid to others, when the author is long dead."

--The Poetry I was Grateful For in 2017, The New Yorker