Writing can sometimes be exploitative. I like to take a few steps of remove in order to respect the privacy of the subject. If readers make the link, they have engaged with the poem. – John Barton
I have always been very obsessed with time. Times passage makes us all very vulnerable and because we all experience it in our own way, it can make us feel very alone. – John Barton
My obsession with time informs my poetry so completely it is hard for me to summarize it. We want time to pass, for new things to happen to us, we want to hold on to certain moments, we dont want our lives to end. – John Barton
An experienced reader uses the poem as an agent of inquiry. This makes poetry very exciting, unstable, and interactive. – John Barton
Every man should have a library. The works of the grandest masters of literature may now be procured at prices that place them within the reach almost of the very poorest, and we may all put Parnassian singing birds into our chambers to cheer us with the sweetness of their songs. – William E.A. Axon, October 1867