aging

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.

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

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 and sculptor Nora Naranjo Morse, of Santa Clara Pueblo, reads from Mud Woman: Poems from the Clay (1992), including an expanded sung and spoken version of "Gia's Song."

Steve Orlen reads poems that would go on to appear in his collection The Elephant's Child: New & Selected Poems, 1978-2005 (2006), as well as earlier and unpublished poems.

Alan Shapiro reads poems from The Dead Alive and Busy (2000), Song and Dance (2002), Tantalus in Love (2005) and Old War (2008).

Larry McMurtry reads selections from his novel The Desert Rose (1983).

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

Nanao Sakaki performs poems and songs in the courtyard of the Poetry Center on Cherry Avenue. Asking the audience, "Any questions? I'll answer by my poems," Sakaki addresses themes raised by audience members such as anger, feeling at home, time, walking, and love for the desert and all forms of life.

Sandra Cisneros reads uncollected poems at the Phoenix Art Museum. This reading was originally given with Rita Dove and Joy Harjo in partnership with ArchiTEXTS: A Conversation Across Languages with Natalie Diaz.

Sandra Cisneros and translator Liliana Valenzuela read from Cisneros' Woman Without Shame (2022) and Valenzuela's Spanish-language translation, Mujer sin vergüenza (2022), selecting poems that consider womanhood, aging, and freedom as a woman. Valenzuela also reads poems of her own from Codex of Journeys: Bendito camino (2012) and Codex of Love: Bendita ternura (2020), which also consider womanhood, desire, and the act of looking.

Brenda Hillman reads from In a Few Minutes Before Later (2022), her eleventh collection of poetry, including poems set during the COVID-19 pandemic. She briefly discusses her translation—done in collaboration with her mother—of Brazilian poet Ana Cristina Cesar, and closes with two new poems focused on her mother's garden and her childhood home.