SOURCE: An interview in To Make a Prairie: Essays on Poets, Poetry and Country Living, The University of Michigan Press, 1979, pp. 35-46.

In the following interview conducted by high school students at Interlochen Arts Academy, Kumin answers questions about her work, in particular, her methods of writing. She also provides some advice for future writers.

[Students]: Is everyday life experience the chief influence upon your poetry? [Kumin]: I would say that the distillation of everyday life experiences is exactly what I am trying to particularize and order in poetry.

When you write a poem, do you set down a chunk or block of words and then pare down from that, or do you build line on line?

I set down everything I can think of, everything that flies into my head, even though it may seem terribly digressive. I try to get it all because I'm afraid that...