In "Sharpening the Truth: A Fusion of Personal and Impersonal in Lyric Poetry," I discuss what I have learned from writing personal poetry. The work of Sharon Olds, an early influence evident in my dissertation, uses circumstantial personal details that block the reader from "fusing" wholly with the text. In contrast, the work of Yehuda Amichai, a later influence on my poetry, offers a model of how to avoid the pitfalls of the circumstantial personal: while using autobiographical experience as a base, it strips away contextual personal details, thereby allowing for a more total "fusion" with the text. Personal details can still be used; the poet just needs to be more selective in choosing specifics that include, not exclude: for example, personal details with symbolic import or mythic weight. Amichai compensates for the loss of the circumstantial personal by using common knowledge, figurative language, and the use of commentary. The poems in Counting Down Our Small Time are divided into four sections, each preceded by a summatory epigraph. These sections deal with some core concerns of mine as a writer: my parents' conflict-fraught marriage; the loss of innocence; love; growing up and leaving home; and death.