cruelty

In this reading at Pima Community College, Ai reads poems that would later be collected in Cruelty (1973), some of which differ from the published versions. She also reads several poems that would remain uncollected and talks about her experiences in graduate school.

Maggie Nelson reads excerpts from Bluets (2009) and The Art of Cruelty (2011), as well as new work. This reading was given as part of the Hybrid Writing Series, co-sponsored by the UA Prose Series.

Jenny Boully reads excerpts from of the mismatched teacups, of the single-serving spoon (2012) and not merely because of the unknown that was stalking toward them (2011), as well as new and uncollected work. This reading was given as part of the Hybrid Writing Series, co-sponsored by the UA Prose Series.

Tim O'Brien reads his short story "How to Tell a True War Story," later published in The Things They Carried (1990). This reading was given as part of the Writers at Work series.

Terry Tempest Williams reads primarily from Desert Quartet: An Erotic Landscape (1995); she opens this reading with a performance of a poem by May Swenson.

In this lecture on Homer titled "We Should Shudder," Michael Schmidt discusses the distance of early Greek sensibility from our own and the power of impersonal writing in Homer's poems, reflecting upon what modern poets can learn from this approach. He also incorporates readings of poems by W.H. Auden and Edwin Muir.

Reading in Tucson for the second time in 1972, Ai reads from her manuscript then titled Wheel in a Ditch, which would be published the following year as Cruelty (1973), her first book. She also reads several poems that would appear in her second book, Killing Floor (1979), as well as several that remain uncollected.