Kevin Young Responds

Who knows why poets do what they do? We’re strange creatures, even to ourselves. But I’ve used ampersands for some time—not always, but often. I suppose the reason in part has to do with speech and its everyday abbreviations and linkages—not to mention I think ampersands look good. Like Emily Dickinson’s dashes—which make an appearance in my poem, alongside Dickinson herself—ampersands are both written and sonic. With any luck, they may even make the word “and” mean something again.