the most influential poet in my life, especially in my formative years, is Agha Shahid Ali. I was lucky enough to encounter him early, as little as 2 or 3 months after I started. he is responsible for my tone and texture as well as my love of forms and reverent attitude toward other poets.

a few years ago, I was pleasently surprised to find Ali quoting James Merrill in a poem. Merrill is also another poet that I modeled myself after. it was like God (or fate or the Holy Spirit etc etc) had conspired to give me this brotherhood of mentors, coalesced before my birth and coming to me discretely yet in coordination.

I was very surprised to come across the metaphor “punctual as stars” when reading Ali the other day. a scant month before, I had written those same exact words (I lie; I had written “punctual as /the/ stars”) while describing a chessboard and how its armies are always reset at the start of a match (Ali was describing something else). to find these words, from a hero of mine, replicated was revelating. I felt touched by the godhead through ink and paper. it may have been a coincidence, a mere play of statistics, but I haven’t come across those words before. it is a sign that perhaps poetry was a good decision and that, perhaps (perhaps!), I’m coming into my own in poetry.