Dennis Nurkse from the 2paragraphs Writers Interviews: What Do You Like Least About Being A Writer?
I really like being a writer. The insulation in a self-created narrative, the solipsism, all of that works for me.
What I hate is to write something good, then realize it’s mediocre, and finally discover it’s awful. I hate the assumption that you have to be a PhD to “get” literature–it can’t be mysterious like the human face, it has to be a code some technician has the key to. I worry about what identity is, how we obliterate it with symbols, how to manipulate them, when not to care. I resent not having the time to read all my friends’ work adequately. And I can’t free myself of the temptation to measure myself by external standards, especially in the parrot cage of the Internet.
—D. Nurkse is the author of nine books of poetry. His honors include a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Bess Hokin Prize from Poetry, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His most recent book is A Night in Brooklyn: Poems
