His Blood Is Black And

My Wife Used To Tell Me One Of My Best Qualities Was That My Feet Don't Smell, But I Remember My Brother's Did When We Were Kids.

I'm Mostly Influenced By Life, What's Around Me, And My Own Childhood.

Poetry Seems To Sink Into Us The Way Prose Doesn't. I Can Still Quote Verses I Learned When I Was Very Young, But I Have Trouble Remembering One Line Of A Novel I Just Finished Reading.

I've Been Influenced By Poets As Diverse As Dylan Thomas, Lewis Carroll, And Edgar Allan Poe.

When I Began Writing, I Didn't Read Any Other Children's Poets... I Didn't Want To Be Influenced Until I'd Found My Own Voice. Now I Read Them All.