Great Regulars: A: I've done that in the middle

of a reading, changed lines. Sometimes you see it and go "that's not quite right." (laughs) Well, poetry is closer to the oral traditions, there's no doubt about it. In the act of presenting it orally, you learn things. Book signings, too. When you publish a new book and go out and read from it, that's when you first realize what the book's really about. I discovered that--"now I know what this book is really trying to say." When people ask questions of you you get the picture and the perspective that you might not have.

from Jeff Baker: The Oregonian: Gary Snyder talks writing, influences, Reed College and Portland
then Jeff Baker: The Oregonian: Gary Snyder comes home to Reed College

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