[A]ll I could tell you was that I liked its sound. I didn’t have any idea what the poem was about. I just liked letting the words fall off my tongue when I read it aloud. It was elemental, and I think almost every poem I love is like that for me. At a base level it just sounds good.

—Ta-Nehisi Coates

This is what I always say:

With poetry, the most important thing for me initially is how it sounds.

🙂