David Lehman interview by Clifford Brooks
1) David Lehman: Tell us what first sparked your interest in a life of letters. Who were your earliest heroes? How did where you grew up temper the way you see the world today? I grew up in New York City and the rhythm of the city is in my bones. I have long legs, I walk very fast and I write at the same pace. One thing that attracted me to poetry, when I started out, was the privacy of the act. I wrote for myself, never expecting a reader. The poets I liked wrote in an idiom I could grasp: Walt Whitman, Frank O'Hara. On the other hand I also liked poetry I didn't understand, like Paradise Lost; I read the first stanzas of Milton's poem over and over, loving the sheer pyrotechnics of the language and the great loftiness. 2) What superstitions, rituals, and/or work ethics influence the success you see today insofar as creative writing is concerned? That's an easy one. I believe in God. Issue 13 | Blue Mountain Review | 115