"Writing a poem is like trying to tell a story in as short a space as possible using as many dimensions as possible. It has the essence of a moment: the feelings, characters, and situation all there without any unnecessary words. It is told with sound, texture, images, metaphor, structure, and rhythm. I memorize my poems so that I hear every nuance of each dimension. When it all is working together, then it is complete. Fiction doesn't have to be so terse."
"Writing plays is another whole world. I love taking everything I have ever noticed about human relationships and constructing stories that make audiences cry and laugh at the same time."
Poetry Slams
A poetry slam is like an Olympic competition. The poet has three minutes to recite a poem, after which judges hold up a score from 1 to 10. The poet is judged based loosely on performance and content; mostly, how much the judge likes the poem and presentation. It is exciting, it is fun. The 1998 Los Angeles Slam Team did Los Angeles proud at the National Slam in Austin Texas in August by making it to the final four (out of 45 teams around the country and Canada) and then placing third after New York and Dallas (see Time Magazine, Sept 7, 1999).