Narrative nonfiction was not my forte. I always wanted to let my imagination run free, and the facts sometimes got in the way. At one point I wanted …

- Douglas Florian

Left right left right. We're army ants. We swarm we fight. We have no home. We roam. We race. You're lucky if we miss your place.

- Douglas Florian

I studied art at Queens College, taking very few courses in literature. But I've always loved reading poetry and grew up enjoying the so-called beat …

- Douglas Florian

The art has to have a life of its own and not merely illustrate. I've always felt a great illustration can make a good poem even better. That's the a…

- Douglas Florian

When I was young I drew constantly in my sketchbooks to learn to see things. My first teacher in school, Gilbert Stone, taught me that you have to se…

- Douglas Florian

With time some poems just fall by the wayside. Other poems get better over time with revision, revision, revision. My ladybug poem took 10 minutes to…

- Douglas Florian