I grew up in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania, a medieval Gothic town made out of poetry. This is where the Pied Piper of Hamlin piped away the German children from Saxony. Walking the cobblestone streets was poetry, going to the former Ursuline convent to school was poetry, the chemistry lab where I smelled Dulcea's soap was poetry, the absence of adults was poetry. Even the beans-and-franks Tuesday at the Printers' Union cafeteria was poetry. When they showed us the incunabuli at the Astra Library we had Jouissance. There was Jouissance also at Kniga Russkaya.
 

2) Who are your poetic influences, favorite poets, writers, artwork, other things that inform your work?

My influences are here right now, so I can't talk. Maybe later. My favorite poets are the Ecclesiastes and Anselm Hollo. Those are also writers. My favorite artwork hangs on my wall and on the walls of some galleries, but it should be all hanging on my walls, and I should have longer walls in a villa in Tuscany. Other informers for my work can be found under their real or made-up names in my books. Also, the collaborators.

3) When did you 'become' a poet, when did poet become part of your everyday life?
 

When I was declared the second-place winner of the "Sounds Animals Make" poem in 3d Grade. My poem was superior to the 1st place winner's, especially my superbly wrought frog stanza. Since then, it's just been revenge, one perfect stanza after another.
 

4) Where were you educated? Was this important?

I was educated in a barn. This was terribly important. My stall neighbor on the right was Jesus, on the left a donkey.
 

5) You are Romanian by birth, how important is place for you as a poet? Was Communism important? immigration?

I'm Romanian by birth, Jewish by parents, Hunnish by yen, Mongolian by speed, American by choice, utopian by nature. Communism was very important for the possibility it held that one day I might be put in prison for the perfection of my frog stanza. When it collapsed, the frogs went uuuahhh. Immigration? What immigration? Since acquiring teleportation and T-mail (telepathic mail) I've been emigrating so fast I feel that I never left. I recommend immigration for poets, and after a year, exile -- and after that, total language switch from lingua franca to obscure dialect.
 

5.1) Does being a European in the US give you a different Poetic perspective?

I'm as European as Edward G. Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Henry Kissinger, Erich von Stroheim, and Gem's Spa on 2nd Ave & 8th St in New York. On the other hand, I'm more American than some of that. My perspective is poetic at all times, I'm no part-time perspectivist.

6) What is your favorite food?

Laura

7) Sports Team? or Activity?

Charge of the Avant-garde.
 

8) Vacation spot?

Vacation, what is it? Vacant, vacuous? Been there, didn't like it. Outside is good.
 

9) Curse word?

Piffle!

Craft Questions

1) How do you form a poem? Is poetry and organic or synthetic process for
you?

The poem forms itself first in the mouth then goes down finger to notebook then laptop keys, but it's sometimes formed in the mind while the mind is on hold during a tram or bus ride or long lecture, and sometimes the winged entities that buzz my laboratory drop poems on paper laid out for them and sometimes a spurt of joy narrows into a script and sometimes it forms right under some boring report being written in the common lingo. Synthetic is fine if you can wear it with panache and it breathes, plus synthetics are easier to wash.
 

2) Where do you write? Is Ambiance important? Do you have rituals or habits when you write?

I write in situ and in foetal and on trains and planes and at a desk, I write on earth, in the sky, and in waiting rooms. The Ambiance is created by Me and I employ the poems to create the perfect ambience: the Ambient is the verb of Ambiance (though it looks like a noun). I have forgotten many rituals, but I present myself new ones on occasion: they look like tics, but they are metronomical. Writing is definitely a habit, it would take the force of the entire U.S. rehab force to cure me.
 

3) In the balance between found language and created language where does
your work fall?

Hopefully it doesn't fall, but I'll admit it: it's been in free fall since I started. My only consolation: the universe, in free-fall herself. Language finds me like I'm painted with Freon or something: I barely put my suitcase down on the bed that in walks Language, in a negligee impossible to ignore. Who created you? I cry. Cut the shit, quoth she, this isn't an interview, I'm here for business. Right-O.

4) Is poetry an organic or synthetic thing for you?