These conversations took place over a sixteen-year period starting in 1984. They were the result of my being involved in the organization of two poetry-reading series, one in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and one at Keystone College in nearby La Plume. As seasons were planned and upcoming readings approached, I knew there were certain poets with whom I hoped to talk at length, poets whom I was particularly interested in and whose work I wanted to explore with them in conversation. Sometimes it was possible, but more often not, what with the usual routine of events before and after the readings. But it was not until several years had passed that I decided to pursue these conversations with some of the poets at length and more formally for publication. I made the arrangements to set aside the time, and in most cases the conversations took place the day of the readings.

The poets I spoke with were not representative of a single school or style of contemporary American poetry. Similarly, what I wanted to talk about differed from poet to poet. I did not have an overall program, a particular angle I wanted to pursue in all the interviews. Rather, each poet’s work raised specific issues I wanted him or her to discuss, so the conversations vary in focus. However, there were some issues—the musicality of poetry, the process of writing, the relationship between the poetry and the life of the poet—that were discussed by more than one poet. With all of the conversations now collected together in this book, these common issues sometimes create a kind of crosstalk between the poets.