It was Rimbaud’s ideas, and the verse of the first generations influenced by his ideas, particularly those in France and Spain, which influenced me more than Rimbaud’s verse itself. I integrated into my aesthetic early on the belief in a ‘hallucination of the word’.

I do not see much of this influence among modern American poets. But whenever I do see it, I appreciate it immediately.

Even though American poetry is in an exciting place right now, it still seems remarkably insular. This insularity gives any poetry deriving from outside sources almost a sense of esotericism.

What is strange, to me, is how strange some other poets view my poetry.