Western Pennsylvania remains a "fascinating place" for the new U.S. poet laureate, W.S. Merwin, even after living nearly 40 years in Hawaii.

"My friend Jamie [James] Laughlin was from Pittsburgh, and we loved to talk about the history of the place, from the Homestead steel battle to the life along the rivers," Mr. Merwin said yesterday from his home on the Hawaiian coast.

Mr. Laughlin was an heir to the Jones & Laughlin Steel business, but he left Pittsburgh to found New Directions Press, an independent publisher of poetry and literature. Mr. Merwin's parents met in Pittsburgh in the early 20th century before moving to the East Coast.

"I have a very serene, quiet life here [in Hawaii]," said the 82-year-old writer. "We can't see any houses from where we live. But, I'm not a recluse. I do love seeing people. I just don't want to do it all the time."

He said he plans two trips to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. -- in October to launch his one-year term and in the spring. He will also hold readings in Dallas and Chicago.

"There are two sides to me," Mr. Merwin said, "the public and the private, with the private being more important to me. I find I need a lot of time alone."

Since his first book, "A Masque for Janus," won the Yale Younger Poets Award in 1952, Mr. Merwin has pursued a writing career because "that's what I wanted to do." The result is more than 30 books, both poetry and nonfiction.

"Ezra Pound told me when I was 18 that he was lucky to know a generation of writers who didn't do it for the money," said Mr. Merwin. "I always knew I wanted to be a poet, so I wasn't concerned about making money. I understood what Pound meant."

The very act of writing continues to inspire Mr. Merwin, who called the experience "like an electric current running through me. Something happens when I'm writing. For me, it's a whole different way of looking at the world. There's nothing more exciting."

Mr. Merwin's first poetry reading in Pittsburgh was at the International Poetry Forum in 1970 with his parents in the audience. He made three subsequent appearances and he was shocked Friday to learn that the forum discontinued its program in 2009 in its 43rd season.

"I'm just appalled to hear that news," he said. "I've pointed to the International Poetry Forum as the exemplar of community support for poetry."

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