The poems in the fifth section are from a book I'm trying to get published.

I'm not sure of any direct influence, but some of my most successful poems are short poems. They have kind of a distilled focus, like Dickinson. They're very elliptical. She is quite elliptical - she distills down to the core. But my poetry doesn't sound like Dickinson's.

It's the process of writing and life that matters... We are trying to become sane along with our poems and stories.

What you're trying to do is upgrade your guys to the point that they get used to competing against top-level opponents like this. It certainly is a positive thing. Everybody should have his horizon elevated a little and that should make us tougher for what's coming up.

It's true that retailing is going through a shakeout period and more companies are trying to attract the customer through technology by making it fun to shop, ... But if you're going to replace people with machine at stores, why shouldn't people just shop on the Internet then?

I meet people at book signings who whisper to me, 'We are trying the spells.' And I think: Well, don't bother, because I know I just made them up. They don't work,