When it comes to what makes writing work for Tobin, drawing the reader in is paramount, he said.

According to Tobin, the chairman of Emerson College's writing department, "John Gardner said that a good piece of fiction draws the reader into a continuous fictional dream, a completely believable alternate reality. A poem that 'works' accomplishes the same, though perhaps in a somewhat more multivalent way, since poems by the simple fact of being written in lines establish a vertical dimension to the writing. That means a poem needs to satisfy musically and formally, in a way that is not as urgently required of prose."

On Nov. 22, Tobin will read his poetry at The Somerville News Writers' Festival at 371 Summer Street in Davis Square.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Tobin's mother worked as a bank clerk, and his father on the docks in New York.

Never having been encouraged to write by his parents, the teenager started writing poetry in a notebook, with topics ranging from history to mythology to love poems — "like every adolescent," says Tobin. "I liked playing with the sounds of language."

"They [Tobin's parents] were not particularly inclined to poetry. So, there wasn't a particularly educational foothold in the house," Tobin said with a laugh. "They didn't have any background in the area that I grew inclined to pursue myself."

However, "[My parents] didn't discourage me either. They pretty much went with what I wanted to do," Tobin said.

For Tobin, the writing process fluctuates. "I try to draft a poem as quickly as possible, with as great intensity as I can. Then, I just keep going back and going back. Others, go through many drafts to get where they're going.

"I will come back to a poem after years and revise it again. I've had poems that went through a minimal number of drafts and I was satisfied with them. Usually, things have to go through quite a number of drafts, and who knows how many hours of me mulling."

In case Tobin feels stuck at any given time, he simply directs his attention to another poem-in-progress to tinker with.

Tobin prefers to write in a standard-size, bound notebook in his study at home or his office at Emerson. When the opportunity arises, he enjoys writing in mid-morning, and continuing for a large chunk of the day.

"I've written just about anywhere. I have also jotted ideas or lines down, on the T, coming into work and going back from work," he said. "If I have to write on a napkin, or a piece of tissue, I'll do that, too," he said.

And, he said, he'll be doing it for a while. "I would like to be like Yeats, in the sense that Yeats kept writing, pretty much until the day he died," Tobin said