Leonard Gontarek is the author of Zen for Beginners and Déjà Vu Diner. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Fence, Field, Hanging Loose, Volt, Verse, and in Best American Poetry and Joyful Noise: American Spiritual Poetry. His website is http:// www.leafscape.org/LeonardGontarek.

In answer to our question of why he writes, Leonard responded:

"I like questions about the drive to write poetry, though I am not certain I have the answer. I know I am sparked by news headlines: ‘Lost Goat Wanders into Idaho Music Store,’ and the way light falls into trees at certain times of day. Do the poems resolve big questions: Who am I, Where am I going? I think poetry reframes the questions, refreshes them. It is what fuels me."

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