It's how I came to poetry and for many years it was the only way that I knew it. It was a struggle for me to actually be even to begin to print a poem. I resisted a long time because I didn't think it did it honor. Because once it's set on paper, then it's sort of concrete. So I ultimately did publish them, but I still maintain that this is an oral tradition.
Poetry is to be heard.
It's for the ear, not for the eye. I was struck my that statement in your forward to the book. I never heard a writer say they were afraid of the permanence of the printed page, for which most writers are striving. It's like the end of the poem. All those people who see it, I can't say, 'No.no, no, I changed my mind.