I never seem to think there is such a thing as an audience, and certainly never try to reach an audience. What I try to do is through the work possible in writing the poem, I try to create a poem that will come as close as possible to saying the kind of place I am, where I am and who I am and what seems to me to be central, and so on. . . . As a single person. And then my highest hope is that some equally single, some other person will find that poem and say, “Yes, this is true for me as well.” I’m not trying to lead a mob for a cause so-and-so in Washington, or to get people to believe in my politics instead of theirs. I would just like to say, as truthfully as I can, what seems to me to be true for me, as an individual, and then if that’s true for anyone else in the world who happens across my poems then he will recognize it. And then we will know that I am here and perhaps one day I’ll find out he’s there. And we’ll have that. So I do want an audience, but I want them to recognize themselves, wherever they are. One in Montana, one in West Virginia, and one in southern Florida, or wherever they are. And we could all say, “Yes, that feels right for me.” (“The Unassimilable Fact Leads Us On...” interview with Jim Stahl in Set in Motion)