The piece actually began as an attempt at organization. I had been perusing scientific journals for other works and came across so many interesting extracts I couldn’t help but bookmark for exploring at a later date. At around the same time I finished David Naimon’s “Heathen” . . .

I grew up with a lot of poetry in the house, as my dad was a big reader of Jarrell, Roethke, and Hugo. (And I still have my Golden Treasury of Poetry from the early Seventies . . .

I came to translation by chance. I don’t speak Danish. That I am now referred to as a Danish translator still comes as a shock. I first encountered Nielsen’s work in Copenhagen . . .

Prison has many deprivations. As an inmate, I’m constantly fighting to use the phone, the microwave, showers, and exercise equipment. Even running on the track involves jostling about for space. When I don’t succeed, I don’t get to eat, call my family and friends, or exercise at all. As such times the call of freedom and free will are strongest within me and the pain wrought by this second exile biggest.