I have to poetry plug a site I blogrolled awhile back and have just begun to explore. Here Comes Everybody is a series of interviews with poets using the same nine questions:
1. What is the first poem you ever loved? Why?
2. What is something.someone non-literary you read which may surprise your peets/colleagues? Why do you read it/them?
3. How important is philosophy to your writing? Why?
4. Who are some of your favorite non-Anglo-American writers? Why?
5. Do you read a lot of poetry? If so, how important is it to your writing?
6. What is something which your peers/colleagues may assume you've read but haven't? Why haven't you?
7. How would you explain what a poem is to my seven-year-old?
8. Do you believe in a Role for the Poet? If so, how does it differ from the Role of the Citizen?
9. Word associations: lemon, chiseled, I, of, form
10. What is the relationship between the text and the body in your writing?
I think all but the word association question is brilliant (free associations are something best interpreted by the woman behind the couch), and I'd be interested in hearing the answers to any of them from any poet I know. In fact, feel free to answer any of these in the comments space. And take a look at the interviews. They're fascinating.