James Tate, 1943-2015

The best part of life is that I'm not rushed.

Being rushed is the part I didn't like about my old life.

I love not being in a rush now.

Not that I like being slow. I'm not slow, I'm deliberate, not having to be where I used to have to be at a certain time, or having to be there less and less.

I have time now to read a poem, at least one poem a day. I pick up a book of poems by a poet and read one, sometimes two poems.

One really good poem gets me thru the day. Two really good poems is bonus, found money, being notified that an uncle I never knew died and left me his fortune with the stipulation that I use it to read, write and travel to foreign countries in luxury at my own pace.

There are so many good poets now, so many more good poets than there used to be. It's getting really hard to keep up with all the good poets these days, there are so many of them.