In 1993, Henry Taylor, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and professor at American University, spoke with National Poet Laureate Mona Van Duyn. Van Duyn began writing poetry secretly as a child, and decided to become a poet very young. It wasn’t until she reached college that she discovered the first wave of free verse. She found she loved writing both free verse and metered and formal poetry. Van Duyn denies that she has been a rebel, except at one point, when a critic wrote, “How could any decent poet write a sestina in this day and age? Form has to emanate the world.” She said she sat down and wrote the first sestina of her life and published it. They discuss the formal quality of her work and her writing process, which differs when writing formal poetry and when writing free verse. Van Duyn reads “Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sprat,” and, after an examination of her use of allusion, “Views,” which is about her fear of flying. She closes by reading a villanelle about her dead and dying friends, “Condemned Site.” For more information about live or recorded programs of HoCoPoLitSo, or to donate to support their production, visit www.hocopolitso.org.