I met Rives, poet, at his apartment in the East Village on August 19, 2010.  I asked him what his romance was.  He said, “I don’t think I can comment on romance because I’m a poet.  That’s like talking about your boss.  Romance is my boss.”  I said, “romance is your boss?”  He said, “with a capital R.”  I asked, “what do you mean by a capital R?”  He said, “you are Stupid with a capital S.  You are Talented with a capital T.  That means you are really stupid or you are really talented.  But Romance with a capital R means it’s more than just a noun—it’s a proper noun.  Romance is maybe to other people “romance” which to them is the same as dinner, movie, sex, television, ocean, and sky.  But to a poet, we also have to make it capital R “Romance” because it’s more like “Medieval history” or “Grandma.”  If I say grandma with a little g, that just means a woman.  If I say Grandma with a big G, that’s my Grandma.  So when I say Romance with a big R, that’s my boss and that’s my job.”  I asked, “in general, for every poet, is romance their boss?”  He said, “no, not for every poet.  For me, romance is my boss.”  He continued, “If I had to give a synonym for romance—again I’m not commenting on romance because I am on the record—but: Romance is details.  Noticing them and providing them.”  I asked, “can you give the details of your boss?”  He said, “no, I told you no.  I’m currently in negotiations with my boss.”  I asked, “have you ever met your boss on the street?”  He laughed and said, “yes.  I’ve met my boss many times on the street.  I live in New York.  I bump into my boss constantly.”  I said, “now I’m getting some details!”  He said, “I’m not going to go much further than that.”  I asked, “your boss lives in New York?”  He said, “no, I’ve bumped into my boss all over the world.”  I asked, “do you say Hi to your boss?”  He said, “I try.  Sometimes I just ignore my boss.”  I asked, “does your boss say Hi to you?”  He said, “sometimes my boss really really gives me a big welcome.  I can tell my boss likes me.  Other times my boss is very very quiet.”  I asked, “what’s the gender of your boss?”  He said, “romance.”  I asked, “not a man or woman?”  He said, “the gender is romance.”