Author Statement: “I first read Plath when I was a teenager in Alabama. Reading her poems, especially those in Ariel, made me want to write poetry. There is a long history of mental illness in my family, and I grew up in an abusive, violent home. Plath articulated my own horror in amazing imagery and daring but restrained lines. I owe her the greatest debt one writer can owe another. Her poems are eternal. She went bravely before us and still does.”