I find that my reading, particularly nonfiction, can inspire a poem as well as anything else.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
So much inspires me. People living their lives with courage, beauty of all kinds, nature in all its aspects, people I love and people I hardly know, and, of course, other poets.
I read pretty eclectically - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry - and I've been inspired and influenced by a number of writers.
My focus is on the reader and that the poet's job is not to inspire himself or herself. The poet's job is to inspire some future reader.
I like poems that inspire, that make us think and reflect. It's like putting love into the world for whoever picks it up.
Fiction and poetry are my first loves, but the really beautiful lyrical essay can do so much that other forms cannot.
I'm a failed poet. Reading poetry helps me to see the world differently, and I try to infuse my prose with figurative language, which goes against the trend in fiction.
Poetry and prose are of equal importance to me as a reader, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in my own writing.
I don't actually have a one wellspring of inspiration. Though I'm most often inspired while reading - both fiction and nonfiction.
I think poetry is the only domain where a writer you like can truly be said to influence you, because you read and reread a poem so many times that it simply drills itself into your head.
I find in my own writing that only fiction - and rarely, a poem - fully tests me to the kind of limits of what I know and what I feel.