[Walsh:] You never dreamed of becoming a poet in the sense of receiving recognition for your work. You thought of yourself as being an amateur poet and not a “Poet.” Once you began publishing, when did you begin to think of yourself as a “Poet”?
[Ammons:] When I said amateur poet, I meant that I didn’t want to professionalize it. It seems to have more spontaneity, immediacy, and meaning to me when I think of it as just something I do. I worry when poetry is professionalized. I think maybe I am a poet. I keep getting letters from all over the world from people who say they are moved by this and that. Whatever it was that they were moved by is in the past for me. I just wrote a poem this morning. That’s where I’m at. I try to live each day as I can. If I write a poem, fine. If I don’t, that’s fine. I think life ought to come first. Don’t you? One is alive in the world with other people. I write poetry. Other people collect insects or rocks. I don’t think I have answered this question very well; but you know how at some point in your life you have meditated deeply on a subject — you remember that you have meditated on it, you file it, and the next time you try to remember it you can’t access it: You have to take thirty minutes to work your way there, then you might have something to say, or you might not. That’s what just happened. [Laughs]