human condition

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.

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.

In this performance, Jimmy Santiago Baca reads from Black Mesa Poems, a collection published the year after this reading took place. He also performs poems from Martín & Meditations on the South Valley, a book that was awarded the Before Columbus American Book Award and earned Jimmy Santiago Baca an NEA grant for the year of this reading.

Matthew Olzmann reads new, uncollected work after opening with two poems from his third collection, Constellation Route (2022). Throughout, his poems utilize humor and absurdity as they examine human connection and contemporary life. This reading was originally given alongside Vievee Francis.

Vievee Francis reads from The Shared World (2023) and Forest Primeval (2016), along with one uncollected poem. The poems she reads consider the griefs and joys of close relationships amidst the strains of our present world. This reading was originally given alongside Matthew Olzmann.