Reply #4: HI there, Larissa.

[EFerrari]

Somehow, I've managed to compartmentalize my poetry from this storm. Because poetry is my main venue and I didn't want to have to worry about aesthetics as I move through this process. Isn't that something? (Oh, the urge to control, lol!)

My first book on all this was sprinkled with poetry but very lightly -- it was as if I was protecting that place where poetry happens from the reality of the experience. I don't know if that makes sense. When I married Doug, I was being published in university poetry journals and I guess I wanted to keep that for myself, separate from our/my/his struggle. It's not clear to me that is even possible but it was my impulse.