Which authors inspire you most?

Steven Millhauser, Mark Strand, Denis Johnson, Dennis Cooper, Jim Harrison, Thomas Pynchon, William T. Vollman, Charles Simic, Franz Wright, W.S. Merwin, George Saunders -- this list could go on & on & on, & maybe it should, but not here.

Faulkner Joyce Hugo Wright Morris

He inspired my own mindworking as well as gave me insight to my own creativity. A story and poem by Poe a day is good for the soul

STEVEN KING MUST HAVE.... Stephen King must have laughed aloud the first time he wrote an advanced, presold, New York Times Best Seller word. One word, just one word causes an electronic transfer to increase his wealth perhaps a cup of espresso. He must have giggled as the second cup poured into his coffers. In some parallel world, ‘Carrie’ still lies in the trash can awaiting delivery to the sidewalk with the eggshells and the coffee grounds. Nine dollars an hour part time will barely feed an imagination or buy gas for ‘Cristine’. My sweet Susan kisses the back of my neck as I hunch over the keyboard, planning an escape. Dawn light breaks the winter gray, making my table lamp somewhat redundant. The writers’ cramp I feel is in my butt. My scratchy eyes remind me I should sleep once in awhile. I write because I cannot do otherwise. Susan is already sewing in the next room. A stack of custom throw pillows lie backstage, awaiting their debut as a designer’s touch for some local parlor. Susan’s adult daughter is in the next room singing along with ‘Beauty and the Beast’, as I paint another tale of fear and victory. Stephen King must have smiled as fires blazed and monsters lurked in his mind, crouching to jump onto the page. Stephen King must have laughed the first time he realized he was getting paid for every word; words he could not give away in years past. The next road to the south is Vines Road. I am back to where I never was before. I can smell the coffee. Soon, some publisher will not say “No.”

So many are catalysts for creative inspiration, right? No particular order: Whitman (of course), Milton, Dickinson, Poe, Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott, Twain, Larkin, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Snyder, LeRoi Jones, O'Hara, Billy Collins, James Tate, Ashberry, Gerald Stern, Christine Hume, William T. Vollmann, Jhumpa Lahiri, Hunter Thompson, DFW, Saul Williams, Nelson Algren, Paul Auster... That's a good start. http://yespoetry.com/post/483596106/issue2

Robert Bly, EA Poe(in my early years), Mark Twain, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver, William Carlos Williams, Robert Graves, Langston Hughes, Denise Levertov, Naomi Shahib Nye, Leonard Cohen, William Stafford, Neruda, Belle Hooks, and a few others that created life for me through words.