Optimum Use of Space is the result of a self-imposed exile which was protected by the Alaska elements. "I tried to write about being alone, a curse and a blessing, in a completely foreign territory without family, old friends, and acquaintances to keep me from spilling out of my mold. It's about the challenges of the journey inward, discovering how tough I could be, and also how tender. Most of the poems were written in a 2-year period when I lived with my two children in a cabin without running water or electricity, a most natural setting for poetry to form."