poet laureate

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

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.

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.

Philip Levine reads widely from his early body of work, primarily from Not This Pig (1968) and They Feed They Lion (1972). He reads two poems that would be later published in his collection titled 1933 (1974).

W.S. Merwin reads from his early collections The Moving Target (1963) and The Lice (1967), as well as from The Carrier of Ladders (1970), which had not yet been completed at the time of this reading. Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

W.S. Merwin reads widely from his works. Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

Charles Simic reads widely from his body of work.

William Stafford reads widely from poems published between 1960 and 1973, as well as one that would not be collected until 1992. Interspersed with his poems are comments about political engagement, the writing process, and the feeling that his work attempts to induce.

Mark Strand reads from Reasons for Moving (1968), as well as poems that would be collected in The Story of Our Lives (1973) and Darker (1979).

Richard Wilbur reads poems that will be collected in The Mind Reader (1976) as well as poems from Walking to Sleep (1969). He also reads several translations from both volumes, of poems from the French by Voltaire and François Villon, and from the Russian by Andrei Voznesensky and Nikolai Moishen. 

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.

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. 

W.S. Merwin reads widely from his work. He also reads dreams transcribed and translated by anthropologist Robert M. Laughlin. Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

William Stafford reads widely from his work.

Robert Hass reads poems appearing in his collection Human Wishes (1989).

Mark Strand reads from Selected Poems (1980) and Mr. and Mrs. Baby and Other Stories (1985). He gave this reading with Nancy Mairs.

Philip Levine reads from five of his books, including the manuscript for 1933, which was published four years after this reading.

Charles Wright reads widely from his work.

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.

Louise Glück reads from her 2001 collection of poems The Seven Ages.

Robert Hass reads poems appearing in Sun Under Wood (1996) and Time and Materials (2007).

W.S. Merwin reads from Travels (1993), The Rain in the Trees (1988), and The Shadow of Sirius (2008). Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

Alberto Ríos reads from his work in English and Spanish as part of a multilingual poetry reading also featuring Ofelia Zepeda (reading in English and O'odham) and Sherwin Bitsui (reading in English and Navajo). The reading includes selections from Water, an artist book created by Karla Elling to commemorate the Poetry Center's 50th anniversary. Water features a chainlink of poetry composed and translated by Bitsui, Ríos, Zepeda, and Zapotec poet Natalia Toledo.

William Stafford reads poems from West of Your City (1960), Traveling through the Dark (1962), and The Rescued Year (1966), as well as poems that would be published in later books.

Donald Hall reads primarily from Kicking the Leaves (1978). He also shares several works in progress as well as some older poems.

Reed Whittemore reads poems that would later appear in his collection Poems: New and Selected (1967), as well as one unpublished poem.

In this reading, originally given with Peggy Shumaker, Eloise Klein Healy reads from the collection A Wild Surmise: New & Selected Poems & Recordings (2013).

Rita Dove reads from her collection American Smooth: Poems (2004).

W.S. Merwin reads poems from collections spanning four decades of work, including poems that would be collected three years later in Travels (1993). Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

On the eve of his 75th birthday, Robert Penn Warren reads from Promises: Poems 1954-1956 (1957), Incarnations: Poems 1966-1968 (1968), Or Else: Poem/Poems 1968-1974 (1974), Now and Then: Poems 1976-1978 (1978), and Being Here: Poetry 1977-1980 (1980).

W.S. Merwin reads from The Vixen (1996), Flower and Hand (1996), The River Sound (1999), and The Pupil (2001), as well as selections from his novel in verse The Folding Cliffs (1998). Used with permission of the Wylie Agency LLC.

Maxine Kumin reads from several collections including her first book, Halfway (1961), as well as Upcountry (1972) and House, Bridge, Fountain, Gate (1975). She reads poems on themes such as animals, dreams, water, and the body, as well as two elegies to her close friend Anne Sexton, and a series of seven riddles.

William Stafford reads poems from throughout his career, on themes such as aging, memory, nature, war, and human violence. He also reads what he claims is his "weakest" poem, "The Little Girl by the Fence at School."

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.

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.

Juan Felipe Herrera warmly engages the audience with work that would be collected in books such as Mayan Drifter: Chicano Poet in the Lowlands of America (1997), Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler (2002), and Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (2008), as well as uncollected pieces. Standout performances include "Notes on Other Chicana and Chicano Inventions" and "Suicide in Hollywood / Lupe Velez (Circ. 1923) Serigrafía de una actriz Mexicana," read in Spanish and English. Opening his reading with an invocation to sky, earth, wind, and fire, Herrera encourages audience laughter and participation throughout the evening.

Charles Simic reads from New and Selected Poems, 1962-2012 (2013) and The Lunatic (2015).

LeAnne Howe, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Joy Harjo discuss and read poetry from the anthology When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020). Diana Marie Delgado leads a conversation to conclude the event. This reading was given online as the first event from the Institute for Inquiry and Poetics, a thought center founded at the University of Arizona Poetry Center and designed to create space and time for poets to respond to pressing questions that reside at the intersection of social concern and poetry. 

Former US Poet Laureate Rita Dove reads poems from her book Playlist for the Apocalypse (2021). This reading was presented as part of the 2022 Tucson Humanities Festival.