death

Joseph Brodsky reads from Selected Poems (1973). Eleven years after this reading, Brodsky would be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. The English translations of Brodsky's poems (by George L. Kline) are read aloud by Steve Orlen. Orlen reads each poem in English, followed by Brodsky's riveting performance of the poem in Russian.

Lucille Clifton reads poems on many subjects, including family and illness, as well as a series of Rastafarian-inspired poems about the life of the Biblical figure Mary. In addition to poems, Clifton reads excerpts from Generations: A Memoir and her children's book Sonora Beautiful.

Carl Dennis reads primarily from The Outskirts of Troy, which would be published two years after this reading.

Richard Eberhart reads from Fields of Grace (1972), along with a wide range of selections from his earlier work.

Jack Gilbert reads widely from poems published in the 37-year period between his first book, Views of Jeopardy, and his fifth book, The Dance Most of All, ultimately published in 2009.

In Louise Glück's first performance at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, she opens with some poems from her third book, The Garden, and then reads from the manuscript of her book Descending Figure, which would be published two years later.

Thom Gunn reads poems appearing in The Man with Night Sweats (1992) and The Passages of Joy (1982).

Donald Hall reads from The Alligator Bride: Poems New and Selected (1969) and The Yellow Room (1971). He also reads poems that would be collected in The Town of Hill (1975) along with several that remain uncollected, including a series of surrealistic limericks.

Seamus Heaney reads from Death of a Naturalist (1966), Door into the Dark (1969), Wintering Out (1972), North (1975), Field Work (1979), and Sweeney Astray (1983). The reading also features Heaney's lively banter.

Carolyn Kizer reads poems appearing in Harping On (1996); Yin (1984); and Cool, Calm & Collected (2001).

Li-Young Lee reads primarily from his second collection, The City in Which I Love You, which was published the same year as this reading. He also reads one poem from his first collection, Rose (1986).

Benjamin Alire Saenz reads poems that appear in Dark and Perfect Angels (1995); Calendar of Dust (1991); and Edwin Rolfe's First Love, and Other Poems (1951).

Richard Shelton reads from The Tattooed Desert (1970), as well as several poems from Journal of Return (1969) and Of All the Dirty Words (1972).

James Tate reads from his first collection, The Lost Pilot (1967), along with poems that would be collected in The Oblivion Ha-Ha (1970).

Charles Wright reads from several of his books, along with three poems that would later be published, in slightly different versions, in his 1988 collection Zone Journals.

Adam Zagajewski reads from Tremor (1985) and Solidarity, Solitude (1990). He also reads early drafts of translations of poems that would go on to be collected in Canvas (1991); most differ from those that appear in the published version of the book (translated by Renata Gorczynski, Benjamin Ivry, and C.K. Williams).

Marvin Bell reads primarily from A Probable Volume of Dreams (1969) and The Escape Into You (1971), along with work that would be collected in Residue of Song (1974), a book of poems published two years after this reading.

Bill Knott reads widely from his work. This reading includes poems from Becos (1983), Outremer (1989), and Poems 1963-1988 (1989), as well as work collected later. 

Galway Kinnell reads primarily from his 1968 collection of poems Body Rags, which received a special mention from the National Book Award for Poetry in 1969. He begins by discussing and reading poems by Tu Fu, James Wright, Theodore Roethke, Robert Bly, and Walt Whitman.

Stephen Spender reads widely from his earlier works, including Poems (1933), The Still Centre (1939), and The Generous Days (1969); he also reads journal excerpts. Reproduced by kind permission of the Estate of Stephen Spender. 

Sandra McPherson reads from her first two collections of poetry, Elegies for the Hot Season (1970) and Radiation (1973). She reads one love poem that remains uncollected.

Ai reads solely from the manuscript for Sin, a collection published the year following this reading. She briefly discusses her time at the University of Arizona, where she was a student during the late 1960s.

Donald Justice performs poems published between 1973 and 1987. The first two sections from his poetic sequence My South are read and introduced with titles that differ from those that appear in the 1987 collection The Sunset Maker.

Kathleen Fraser reads from her collections What I Want (1974) and New Shoes (1978). She also reads an unpublished poem she wrote while staying in the Poet's Cottage.

Li-Young Lee reads widely from his body of work and discusses forms, craft, and chance in poetry.

Claudia Rankine reads from Don't Let Me Be Lonely (2004).

Patricia Smith reads widely from her work, including several uncollected poems.

Marina Rivera reads from Mestiza (1977) and Sobra (1977); she also reads several uncollected poems. This reading was originally given with Carolyn Kizer. 

Brenda Hillman reads widely from her body of work.

In this performance, Michael Burkard reads from his first three books, particularly from the 1981 collection Ruby for Grief. He also reads some uncollected work.

Al Young reads poems from The Blues Don't Change (1982) and Heaven: Collected Poems 1956-1990 (1992), along with several prose selections.

John Williams reads from three novels: Butcher's Crossing (1978), Stoner (1965), and Augustus (1972).

Occurring the same year as the publication of Gerber's collection The Revenant (1971), this reading also includes a large number of poems published two years later in his book Departure (1973).

William Pitt Root reads from his first collection, The Storm and Other Poems (1969), and from the soon-to-be published Striking the Dark Air for Music (1973). Between selections from these two books, he reads lighter, more humorous poems that would remain uncollected or be published much later.

Poet, playwright, and novelist Owen Dodson reads a range of poems from his distinguished career. As he introduces his poems, Dodson reflects on his consciousness as a writer, from his undergraduate days at Bates College to his engagement with spirituality, Civil Rights, and social justice.

Paul Zimmer reads from The Republic of Many Voices (1969), along with poems that would be published in The Zimmer Poems (1976) or remain uncollected. Making use of persona, narrative, and humor, he addresses topics such as childhood, identity, and mortality.

Marilyn Chin reads primarily from her 1994 collection The Phoenix Gone, The Terrace Empty.

Stanley Elkin reads The State of the Art from his collection of short stories The Living End.

Grace Paley reads prose appearing in her two collections Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1974) and Later the Same Day (1985).

Mark Halperin reads work primarily from Backroads (1976). He also reads some unpublished poems at the time, which would go on to be collected in A Place Made Fast (1982).

David Ignatow reads widely from his work. This reading includes poems collected in Facing the Tree (1975) and Tread the Dark (1978), as well as uncollected poems and early drafts of poems that would go on to appear in collections such as Whisper to the Earth (1981) and Leaving the Door Open (1984).

Here, Hass reads from his collections Field Guide (1973) and Praise (1979). He also reads poems that would later be published, under different titles, in his 1989 collection Human Wishes.

Steve Orlen reads from Permission to Speak (1978) and A Place at the Table (1981). This reading was originally given with Criss E. Cannady and Greg Pape. 

Stephanie Balzer performs prose poems from her chapbooks Revenant and faster, faster. She ends the reading with a discussion about her relationship with the prose poem form.

In this performance, Robert Creeley reads from and discusses his chapbook Yesterdays, published shortly before the reading by Chax Press. He also reads poems that would be published in his posthumous collection On Earth. Creeley closes with the poem "Generous Life," from If I Were Writing This.

Iraqi poet Sinan Antoon reads from his collection Baghdad Blues and uncollected translations of many more poems. He concludes the reading with a performance of a poem in Arabic.

Pamela Uschuck reads poems from Scattered Risks (2005), Greatest Hits (2009), and Crazy Love (2009).

In this reading, Robert Bly treats the audience to translations of Issa, Neruda, and Kabir more than five years before they began to be collected in his books. He also reads uncollected poems and poems from his book The Light Around the Body, which was published the year following this reading.

In his first visit to Tucson, Franz Wright reads prose pieces, most of which were unpublished at the time of his reading, as well as several lineated poems. He comments generously on his writing process and friendships with other poets.

W.S. Di Piero reads poems from Skirts and Slacks (2001). He also reads early versions of work that would go on to be published in Brother Fire (2004).

In this reading given with Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Kate Bernheimer reads two stories from her collection Horse, Flower, Bird (2010).

Charles Alexander provides a close reading of Emily Dickinson's work, focusing on the way metrical and sonic qualities transform into poetic dance.

Marie Howe reads poems appearing in What the Living Do (1998).

Sherman Alexie reads widely from his work and engages the audience with stories characterized by his signature humor.

Timothy Schaffert reads from The Coffins of Little Hope, published in 2011, and The Swan Gondola, which would be published in 2014.

A celebration of the fairy tale, featuring readings from authors included in My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (2010), an anthology of new fairy tales edited by Kate Bernheimer.

Zachary Schomburg reads from Fjords (2012) and Scary, No Scary (2009). This reading was originally given with Joyelle McSweeney.

Beverly Dahlen reads from The Egyptian Poems (1983), A Reading (1-7) (1985) and A Reading (8-10) (1992).

Tomas Tranströmer reads translations of poems that first appeared in For the Living and the Dead (För levande och döda, 1989). Some poems are performed in Swedish and English. In the question and answer session that follows the reading, Tranströmer discusses the collaborative nature of the translation process.

Carole Maso reads from a work in progress called The Bay of Angels and shares excerpts from her 2002 prose poem Beauty Is Convulsive: The Passion of Frida Kahlo.

G.C. Waldrep reads from the collection Your Father on the Train of Ghosts (2011); he also reads some uncollected poems.

Robin Robertson reads poems from A Painted Field (1997), Slow Air (2002), and Swithering (2006), as well as one unpublished piece.

In this reading, originally given with Aurelie Sheehan, Beth Alvarado shares an excerpt from the short story collection Not a Matter of Love (2006).

Thomas Kinsella reads poems from Downstream (1962), Wormwood (1966), and Nightwalker and Other Poems (1968), as well as poems that would later appear in Collected Poems 1956-1994 (1996) and Selected Poems (2007).

Luis Alberto Urrea reads from Across the Wire: Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border (1993), The Fever of Being (1994), Wandering Time: Western Notebooks (1999), and also from The Best American Poetry (1996).

Brent Hendricks reads from his memoir A Long Day at the End of the World: A Story of Desecration and Revelation in the Deep South (2013). This reading was originally given with Nicole Walker.

Brian Turner reads from Here, Bullet (2005). This reading was originally given with Srikanth Reddy and Joshua Marie Wilkinson.

Melissa Buckheit reads from Noctilucent (2012), as well as new and uncollected work. This reading was originally given with Karen Rigby and Anne Shaw.

Dexter L. Booth reads poems from Scratching the Ghost (2013) along with new and uncollected work. This reading was originally given with Samuel Ace and Polly Rosenwaike.

Timothy Liu reads new poems that would go on to be published in Don't Go Back to Sleep (2014), as well as poems from Polytheogamy (2009) and Bending the Mind Around the Dream's Blown Fuse (2009).

Semezdin Mehmedinović reads poems from Sarajevo Blues (1998) and Nine Alexandrias (2003).

Frederic Tuten reads a short story, "The Ship at Anchor" (2005).

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.

Heather McHugh comments on and reads poems from Hinge & Sign (1994) and The Father of the Predicaments (1999), as well as uncollected work.

Jack Gilbert reads primarily from The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 (1995) and Refusing Heaven (2005).

Douglas Flaherty reads poems from The Elderly Battlefield Nurse (1968). This reading was originally given with Gene Frumkin.

Linda Gregg reads primarily from Too Bright to See (1981). This reading was originally given with Alan Feldman and Faye Kicknosway. 

Maggie Nelson reads widely from her early work, including material from Shiner (2001) and Take Three: 3 (1998), along with uncollected poems.

Aisha Sabatini Sloan reads an early version of "Ocean Park No. 6," titled after a painting by Richard Diebenkorn. "Ocean Park No. 6" would go on to be published in the essay collection Dreaming of Ramadi in Detroit.

Rodney Jones reads from Apocalyptic Narrative and Other Poems (1993), Things That Happen Once (1996), and Elegy for the Southern Drawl (1999).

Toi Derricotte reads from her first three collections: The Empress of the Death House (1978), Natural Birth (1983), and Captivity (1989). She also reads poems and prose that would later be collected in Tender (1997) and The Black Notebooks: An Interior Journey (1997), along with two unpublished poems, including one written in Tucson the night before this reading. She closes by singing an original song.

Mary Szybist reads from her National Book Award-winning collection Incarnadine (2013).

Camille T. Dungy reads primarily from What to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave for Poison (2006). This reading was originally given with Richard Siken and Heriberto Yépez as part of the Next Word 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.

Gary Soto reads poetry and prose from Who Will Know Us (1990) and A Summer Life (1990), along with poems that would later be collected in Home Course in Religion (1991).

Olena Kalytiak Davis reads from And Her Soul Out Of Nothing (1997) and Shattered Sonnets Love Cards and Other Off and Back Handed Importunities (2003). This reading was originally given with Matthea Harvey and James Thomas Stevens for the Next Word in Poetry Series.

James Thomas Stevens reads poems from Combing the Snakes from His Hair (2002), as well as poems that would later be collected in A Bridge Dead in the Water (2007). This reading was originally given with Matthea Harvey and Olena Kalytiak Davis for the Next Word in Poetry Series.

Robin Robertson reads poems from his books Sailing the Forest: Selected Poems (2014), A Painted Field (1997), and Hill of Doors (2013).

John Ashbery reads poems that would later be collected in Hotel Lautréamont (1992), as well as an excerpt from Flow Chart (1991).

Harriet Doerr discusses old age, living in Mexico, and the need to combine experience, imagination, and observation when writing. She reads the first chapter of a story published in 1986 called "Picnic at Amapolas," and she also reads a short excerpt from a chapter called "Immense Distances, Extraordinary Events" in her novel Stones for Ibarra (1984), which covers a woman's experience sorting through her deceased husband's belongings.

Gretel Ehrlich reads from and discusses the process of collaboration on Arctic Heart (1992), a series of poems composed for a ballet. She also reads excerpts from "The Fasting Heart," an essay on destruction and abundance in the natural world, collected in Islands, The Universe, Home (1991).

Sarah Kortemeier performs a series of short love poems in light of Valentine's Day at the 2015 Poetry Out Loud Regional Finals Competition.

Joshua Marie Wilkinson reads from Shimoda's Tavern, the final installment in his No Volta pentalogy. This reading was originally given with Ariana Reines.

Poet and physician Fady Joudah reads uncollected and new poems; poems from Alight (2013) and Textu (2014); and translations from the works of Mahmoud Darwish, Ghassan Zaqtan, Hussein Barghouti, and Amjad Nasser.

Simon J. Ortiz reads prose and poetry, including an excerpt from an in-progress manuscript of an epic poem and selections from Woven Stone (1992), from Sand Creek (2000), and Out There Somewhere (2002).

Richard Nelson reads from Heart and Blood: Living with Deer in America (1997), including excerpts from the chapters "Heart of The Hunter" and "In Search of Eden." These chapters cover topics such as hunting and predation, and they are written through the lens of the author's experiences as an anthropologist in Alaska.

William Olsen reads primarily poems that would go on to be collected in Trouble Lights (2002), including "A Cat," "The Human Heart," "To A Fly," "Ruin Outlasting Sorrow," and "Black Globe." This reading was originally given with Nancy Eimers.

This reading was originally scheduled as a joint appearance by Brazilian poet Adélia Prado and her translator Ellen Doré Watson, but Prado was unable to travel due to health issues. Watson thus reads her translations of Prado's poetry, as collected in The Alphabet in the Park: Selected Poems (1990), and plays recordings of Prado reading some of her poetry in the original Portuguese.

Marcia Southwick reads poems from the second half of The Night Won't Save Anyone (1980), along with poems that would go on to be collected in Why the River Disappears (1990).

British poet Jon Silkin reads from his poems, filled with imagery related to animals, death, and British history, especially the history of the Jewish community in Great Britain.

Pattiann Rogers reads poems from her collection Firekeeper: New and Selected Poems (1994).

Leroy V. Quintana reads poems including "Guadalupe," "Frida," and "Points North." Estela Portillo Trambley reads from her short story "If It Weren't For The Honeysuckle" (1975).

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and novelist Maxine Kumin reads from her then-recent collection Nurture (1989), together with poems written throughout her career, as well as two poems that would go on to be collected in her next book, Looking for Luck (1992). Many of the poems consider connections between animals and humans. Kumin also reads a series of three elegies to her longtime friend Anne Sexton.

Steve Orlen reads from his collections Permission to Speak (1978) and A Place at the Table (1982), as well as from newer material.

Luci Tapahonso reads from her collections Seasonal Woman (1982) and A Breeze Swept Through (1987), beginning with a piece that combines spoken poetry with song.

Author and illustrator Faye Kicknosway reads poems from her book The Cat Approaches (1978); she also reads from a manuscript that would eventually become the Pulitzer Prize–nominated Who Shall Know Them? (1985), a series of ekphrastic poems engaging with Walker Evans's famed photographs of life during the Great Depression. This reading was originally given alongside readings by Alan Feldman and Linda Gregg.

Rosemary Catacalos reads from her first collection, Again for the First Time (1984), before sharing more recent poems. Several of the more recent poems would appear in anthologies throughout the 1990s or would be collected in her chapbook Begin Here (2013). San Antonio, Texas, figures prominently, and key themes include multicultural identity and life in border communities.

Poet and playwright Denise Chávez reads from her poems and short stories, and also performs some scenes from her stories, drawing from her work in the theater arts. She reads first from Descansos: An Interrupted Journey (a 1995 collaboration with Rudolfo A. Anaya and Juan Estevan Arellano, combining photography and creative writing), which explores the cultural and personal histories surrounding roadside crosses. She also reads from Face of an Angel (1994), a novel about a career waitress, exploring themes of divorce, race, and childbirth.

Alan Cheuse reads from his novel The Light Possessed (1990), inspired by the life of Georgia O'Keefe and several other U.S. women painters. The novel's title comes from a poem by Walt Whitman, "A Prairie Sunset," which Cheuse reads as an introduction to his own work. Cheuse's novel has "two beginnings," and he reads both: the first is a chapter titled "River."

Roland Flint, Poet Laureate of Maryland at the time of this reading, opens with early poems from Say It (1979) and Resuming Green (1983). Flint reads from his National Poetry Series volume Stubborn (1990), interspersing work from Stubborn with recently written poems, some of which would go on to be published in Easy (1999). Flint also discusses his work as a translator of Bulgarian and reads several of his translations.

Richard Jackson reads long poems from his collection Worlds Apart (1987) and others that would be collected in Alive All Day (1992). He begins with a poem by Thomas Hardy, "I Looked Up from My Writing."

Tarfia Faizullah reads poems from her collection Seam (2014) and from an early version of Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf Press, 2018). This reading was originally given with francine j. harris as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

francine j. harris reads poems from her collection allegiance (2012) and from her upcoming manuscript play dead (Alice James Books, 2016). This reading was originally given with Tarfia Faizullah as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

Srikanth Reddy reads from a manuscript in progress titled "Underworld Lit."

Rachel Zucker reads from an unpublished manuscript tentatively titled "Sound Machine."

Poet David Baker gives a collaborative performance alongside Lauren Baba, Andrew Rowan, Alina Roitstein, Harrison Kirk, and Gregory Uhlmann of the River Song Quintet, who perform musical settings of his poems. Included in this performance are uncollected and new poems, as well as poems from Baker's collections The Truth about Small Towns (1998) and Scavenger Loop (2015).

Daniel Schoonebeek reads poems from his collections American Barricade (2014) and Trébuchet (forthcoming from University of Georgia Press, 2016). This reading was originally given with Solmaz Sharif as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

Robert Hass reads one poem from The Apple Trees at Olema (2010) along with recent, uncollected poems on the subject of climate change. This reading was originally given with Brenda Hillman as part of the Climate Change & Poetry Series.

Forrest Gander reads widely from his translations from the Spanish, including poems by Coral Bracho, Alfonso D'Aquino, Pura López Colomé, Nezahualcóyotl, and Jaime Saenz. He also reads from his translations of Pablo Neruda's rediscovered works, published as Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda Poems (2016).

Cynthia Hogue reads from In June the Labyrinth (2017). She also reads (along with her co-translator, Sylvain Gallais) two poems by Nicole Brossard, translated from the French. This reading was originally given with Johanna Skibsrud.

Jorie Graham reads from her poetry collection Fast (2017).

Ada Limón reads poems from Bright Dead Things (2015) and The Carrying (2018).

Tommy Pico reads from his book-length poems Junk (2018), published the year of this reading, and Feed (2019), published the year after this reading. He also reads one poem from Morgan Parker's There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé (2017). This reading was originally given with Morgan Parker as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

Natalie Shapero reads poems from Hard Child (2017) along with other uncollected poems.

Shayla Lawz reads from her book speculation, n. (2021), which revolves around survival and Black life amidst police violence within the age of social media and the 24/7 news cycle. Lawz creates a unique performed version of her book through repetition and distortions not present on the page. This reading was originally given alongside Aria Aber as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.