News at Eleven: Are my poems expansive or do they take up

too much space? Are they self-involved, or generous in their sharing of personal experience with readers? Too personal, or appealingly frank?

Here's a broad generalization or two. American poets tend to be inclined to go through the self to get to the world; that is, we're not automatically embarrassed to take up space on the page with evocations of our own feelings or experiences. We may be less likely to think of ourselved as representative citizens, or as persons shaped by historical forces. We don't necessarily regard the self ironically.

from Seattlest: An Interview with Poet and Memoirist Mark Doty, Part 1
also Seattlest: An Interview with Poet and Memoirist Mark Doty, Part 2

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