For me, poetry has always been a practice in and of itself.  It's not only the practicing of using language--it's also the practice of being aware: of using all the senses and being absorbed by each moment.  Zen practice is always about returning to that place where there are no words.  Early on, I realized that to use words, you have to live life beyond words, before words, without words.  Only then do you have the right to speak.

This is why I say that I used to be a poet who practiced sitting meditation and then became a monk who practiced poetry--poetry is that initial step away from the deep absorption that comes from sitting for long periods of meditation.  It's only then you realize that language is secondary, a step removed, that you begin to make poems.

--from No Words, an interview with Seido Ray Ronci, conducted by Chase Twichell of Tricycle Magazine, Winter, 2009