When it comes to writing, I'm reminded of the slogan seen on t-shirts in gay bookstores--"I can't even think straight"--since my writing career has been so circuitous. Though I once taught English at the university level, I am not an academic, having foregone the university life for the challenges of secondary education. Though I've been writing most of my life, all of my published poems have been in the past three decades. I frequently remind my high school students that the difference between success and failure comes down to one word: persistence. I am, if nothing else, persistent in my more...
