Elise Hu

Suddenly, the rest of my history came out of that accidental moment.

I met Allen Ginsberg, and I thought I must be in the right place.

Every situation spawns another one, and those were the ones that I had, the lives I had.

What do you think your life would have been like if you hadn't met Paul?

You have said that you feel funny about being in the New York school and you prefer, I believe you said, the folk poet school.

In an interview in the Paris Review, you stated, I've made myself homeless.

I've cut myself off from anything I knew prior to living in New York.

I did this to myself, so I know exactly how it happened.

Do you think this was a necessary component to you becoming the writer you are now?

Jill Soloway, of course, the creator of the television show Transparent.

Right.

Let's talk for a few minutes about Allen Ginsberg.

You've written quite a bit about his epic poem Howl and have stated that these are some of your favorite lines.

Who lit cigarettes in boxcars, boxcars, boxcars, racketing through snow toward lonesome farms in grandfather night.

What is it about those lines that move you so much?

I love the way you say that, boxcars.

You stated that Ginsburg was the first poet to send out press releases and that he knew all about marketing and media.

Did that influence you in any way?

You published your first book of poetry on a mimeograph machine in 1978.

Where did you make it?