OK.
Now, I'm very honored to introduce Eric Magrane, one
of my favorite people.
Eric has been an artist in residence
in three National Parks here in the US.
His poetry has been published widely,
including recent work in the journals Versal, Saw
Palm, and Fourth River.
And his artwork is in the recent exhibits, "Object Poems,"
at 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland, Oregon;
"The Preserve," which was in Big Cypress National
Preserve in Ochopee, Florida; and "Mesquite,"
here at Tohono Chul Park.
A naturalist and birder, Eric has
taught environmental education in the White Mountains
of New Hampshire.
He has worked as a senior hiking guide and staff
naturalist for Canyon Ranch.
And for us at the Poetry Center, he's
taught classes such as Ecopoetics, Birds and Poems,
and Poetry Goes for a Hike.
He is the creator and curator of a poetic inventory
of Saguaro National Park.
His collaborations also include work in several other genres,
such as Borderlands Theater's Tucson pastorela and the song
cycle "(F)light," which premiered in Portland,
Maine in 2011.
He has received grants from the Tucson Pima Arts Council
and the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
He's the editor of Spiral Orb, an experiment
in permaculture poetics.
He lives in Tucson, Arizona with the poet Wendy Burk
and with two cats and three chickens.
[LAUGHTER]
Eric's latest publication is a wonderful hybrid thing.
It's part poem, part instruction.
That's all I can say about it.
It's available from the feature section of the Poetry Center
website.
It's titled, "Various Instructions for the Practice
of Poetic Field Research," and encourage you
to go to the features section of the Poetry Center website
and get a copy for yourself, and let it inspire and guide you.
So everyone, please, help me give a very big
welcome to Eric Magrane.
[APPLAUSE]