violence

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.

Yusef Komunyakaa reads widely from his poetry published in the 1980s, including many poems from Dien Cai Dau (1988). He also reads poems that would soon thereafter be collected in Magic City (1992) and Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems (1993).

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.

Denis Johnson reads from his third and fourth books of poetry, The Incognito Lounge and Other Poems (1982) and The Veil (1987). He also reads from his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992), published the year prior to this reading. He primarily selects pieces set in Arizona.

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

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.

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.

In Alan Dugan's last performance at the Poetry Center, he reads widely from work published during the 26 years between 1963 and 1989. He reads poems about art and artists, Greek and Roman antiquity, contemporary life in Provincetown, World War II, work, and cats.

Rebecca Seiferle reads a long sequence, "On the Island of Bones," from her poetry collection Wild Tongue (2007). This reading for the 2009 Tucson Festival of Books was originally given alongside Demetria Martínez.

Lorna Dee Cervantes reads primarily from Emplumada (1981) and From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Love and Hunger (1991). She also reads several poems that would go on to be collected in Drive: The First Quartet (2006). 

Niki Herd reads at a symposium hosted by Feminist Formations, an interdisciplinary journal of women's, gender, and sexuality studies. Herd's performance includes a poem from The Language of Shedding Skin (2010) and an excerpt from a work in progress. This reading was originally given with Natalie Diaz.

Alan Heathcock reads from the collection Volt: Stories (2011).

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

Richard Siken reads poems that would later be published in Crush (2005). This reading was originally given with Brian Blanchfield.

Dana Levin reads primarily from In the Surgical Theatre (1999). This reading was originally given with Louise Glück.

Natalie Diaz reads poems from When My Brother Was an Aztec (2012) as well as new and uncollected work. This reading was originally given with Eduardo C. Corral to inaugurate the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

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

Farid Matuk reads poems from My Daughter La Chola (2013). This reading was originally given with Aurelie Sheehan.

Lucille Clifton reads poems spanning two decades of work.

CAConrad reads poems from The Book of Frank (2009), A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics (2012), and Translucent Salamander: A (Soma)tic Poetry Ritual and Resulting Poems (2013), along with new and uncollected work.

Martín Espada reads from Trumpets from the Islands of their Eviction (1987), Rebellion is the Circle of a Lover's Hands (1990), and City of Coughing and Dead Radiators (1993).

Poetry Center Summer Resident Stephen Willey reads from "Living In," a manuscript-in-progress; the section performed here was composed during his residency. This reading was originally given with Brian Blanchfield and Karen Brennan.

Luis J. Rodriguez reads from The Concrete River (1991) and Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A. (1993), along with poems that would later be collected in Trochemoche (1998). He also discusses his experiences with Los Angeles gang violence and the Chicano movement as well as his work with at-risk youth.

Leslie Marmon Silko reads from her poems and fiction, including excerpts from Almanac of the Dead (1991) and Storyteller (1981). She also performs traditional oral stories.

Leonard Michaels reads from short stories written throughout his career, and concludes the reading with an excerpt from his novel The Men's Club (1981). His uncompromising realist sketches catch characters at their darkest and most vulnerable moments, and are colored with absurdist humor. Stories include those published in his collections Going Places (1969) and I Would Have Saved Them If I Could (1975). 

Vivian Gornick reads from Fierce Attachments (1987), a memoir of the author's past and present relationship with her mother. This University of Arizona Creative Writing faculty reading was originally given with Mary Elsie Robertson.

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.

Terrance Hayes reads from each of his published books: Muscular Music (1999), Hip Logic (2002), Wind in a Box (2006), Lighthead (2010), and How to Be Drawn (2015). He also reads recent, unpublished poems on the spectacle of violence. This reading was given as part of the Spectacular Poetics series.

Adrian Matejka intersperses thoughts on spectacular poetics with readings of poems from Mixology (2009) and The Big Smoke (2013); he also reads new and uncollected work. This reading was given as part of the Spectacular Poetics Series. 

Alison Hawthorne Deming discusses the Climate Change & Poetry Series. She also reads from Stairway to Heaven (2016) and from uncollected work. This reading was given as part of the Climate Change & Poetry Series.

Ocean Vuong reads poems from Night Sky with Exit Wounds (2016). This reading was originally given with Camille Rankine.

Reginald Dwayne Betts reads from his poetry collection Bastards of the Reagan Era (2015), along with one uncollected poem.

Poet Douglas Kearney and percussionist/electronic musican Val Jeanty present a collaborative performance titled "Fodder," which combines poetry and music at the 2017 Thinking Its Presence Conference. The poems primarily come from Kearney's Buck Studies (2016).

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.

Rubén Martínez discusses being at an impasse in writing, what he describes as surgimiento in Spanish, or emergence. His talk touches on his personal experience and writing, as well as work by other writers and artists.

James Allen Hall reads the title essay from I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well (2017).

Daniel Borzutzky reads from his translations of Raúl Zurita's Song for His Disappeared Love (2010) and Country of Planks (2015), as well as Galo Ghigliotto's Valdivia (2016). He also reads from his own poetry collection Lake Michigan (2018) and a manuscript titled Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018.

Nikky Finney reads poems from her collections The World Is Round (2003) and Lovechild's Hotbed of Occasional Poetry (forthcoming in 2020). Finney also reads her new work titled "Black Boy with Cow: A Still Life" commissioned for the Poetry Center's Art for Justice series. Members of the American Friends Service Committee, Tucson give an introductory presentation.

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

Rosa Alcalá reads from her translations of Cecilia Vicuña's poetry presented in New and Selected Poems of Cecilia Vicuña (2018). She also reads uncollected poems of her own. This reading was given as part of the Hannelore Quander-Rattee Works-in-Translation Series.

Monica Sok reads poems from her collection A Nail the Evening Hangs On (2020). This reading was originally given alongside Tiana Clark.

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. 

torrin a. greathouse reads poems from two manuscripts in progress: DEED, focused on the intersections of desire, desirability, and violence, and a newer manuscript that turns to California's Central Valley and climate change. Discussions of poetic form recur throughout. greathouse was selected as the Poetry Center's 2020 Summer Resident; due to the Covid-19 pandemic, her residency was deferred, and this reading was presented online.

As part of the Terrain.org 25th Anniversary reading, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke reads from her book-length poem Look at This Blue (2022), focusing on extinctions and climate change in California, as well as on poverty and violence. This reading was originally given alongside Julie Swarstad Johnson and Derek Sheffield.