The Whalen Poem

I spent the summer of 2007 reading the galleys of Philip Whalen's COLLECTED POEMS. I was in Vermont and had the leisure to read slowly, ten or so pages a day. About halfway through the master's poems I began to write THE WHALEN POEM. I kept at it until just after Halloween. No book I have written, poetry or prose, has given me the deep pleasure I felt in writing THE WHALEN POEM.--William Corbett