“The first and most visible source of inspiration for my poems is other poems. A less voluble influence is abstract art. I like seeing if I can hear the visual voice in the colored grids of Gerhard Richter and Ellsworth Kelly; in the subtle pink math of Agnes Martin; in the reflective sapphire of an Anish Kapoor floor sculpture; in the regimented presentation of red, yellow, and blue in a horizontal Donald Judd progression. I admire the treatment of Scotch tape by Tara Donovan and Tom Friedman. I look to David Hammons for whimsy and bite; to Ellen Gallagher, Jackson Pollock, and Arshile Gorky for mark making; to Ed Ruscha and Jenny Holzer for making poems when they make art.”
—Sally Van Doren, author of Sex at Noon Taxes (Louisiana State University Press, 2008)