when some boats dime plains one night, two with guitars, their poems taught us to look and maybe laugh at what we wear and felt and thought. after that, i rushed to write in fumbling lines why we should care about a distant starving child. i found my words would seldom flow and then i turned to closer, simpler things. a possibliy, mama as a nurse, a sight of d.c. with, a song of whales, a possum hunt, a battle prayer. i learned from poetry that art is best derive from artless things. that mysteries might be explored and understood from that which springs most freely from mind and heart. >> as a teenager, i began to hear a lot about this poetic figure who was running for president in the united states. he quoted bob dylan, he campaigned with the allman brothers.