Below, a quote from Arthur Sze, his thinking on the qualities of the present tense in his poetry):
“ … the present tense of the verb is an essential part of its power. Of course, the present is always becoming the past, so I like to use a present tense where the present is like the tip of an iceberg, where what is unseen exerts a pressure, even urgency on what is seen.”
(from: “Short Conversations with Poets: Arthur Sze – McSweeney’s Internet Tendency”)
Read the full conversation here.
Michael Edwards 
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