A Poet Looks at Endings and Beginnings

By Lynn Taylor

When Vincent Spina writes a poem, he says he looks for what “sings,” creating a rhythm that supports the images and will carry the reader through the poem.

“I don’t think a poem is strictly about meaning; it is also about the flow of the words, the ‘music.’ This may be how a prayer starts, when something strikes you hard and opens you to a feeling – an image or a piece of the human drama – and you need to find the words that match the feeling that will strike others.”

Vincent Spina was born in Brooklyn and lives in St. Petersburg. He is the author of three traditionally published books of poetry: “Outer Borough,” “Dialogue” and “The Sumptuous Hills of Gulfport.”

Vincent Spina