Through the years I have seen myself as a peaceful person, but the awareness of the anger is part of that process.

Poets are seen as the caretakers of language, so working with words no matter what the form is what we do.

I originally wanted to embrace the imagery and forthrightness of rap music. There are some interesting, dynamic voices in rap. But I find most of it irresponsible in its overt violence and commercialization of anger. As artists, we believe we can will action through language. If that's the case, we have to take responsibility for what we say.

It wasn't a deliberate decision to become a poet. It was something I found myself doing - and loving. Language became an addiction.

I excavate history. I look at lives buried under too much silence. Periods of time, like slavery, have to be revisited, reimagined, so we can move through them.

It took me 14 years to write poems about Vietnam. I had never thought about writing about it, and in a way I had been systematically writing around it.