WEBVTT

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During the dance session this
morning, I reached into my bag

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for a pen, and didn't
realize that the pen in there

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had traveled with
me from Boston.

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Oh, by the way, I'm
Amaranth Borsuk.

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I came here from Massachusetts.

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And that pen on the
plane had exploded.

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So I had that great
moment that you

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have where the ink becomes so
material to you, the ink that's

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always so nicely contained
exploded out into my hand.

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And I thought that
seemed fitting

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for this day in
this environment.

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So there may not be time for
questions or conversation

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after this presentation.

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So if I don't have
time for that,

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I really hope that people who
are interested in chatting

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will come and find me outside.

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Can you hear me OK?

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Yes.

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OK.

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So I'm presenting and reading
from Between Page And Screen,

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which many of you probably
have already seen.

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It's on exhibit in the gallery.

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And Between Page
And Screen, it's

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a book of poems that
doesn't have any text in it

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because these black and
white geometric shapes.

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And instructions
to find the words,

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go to betweenpageandscreen.com.

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This book is a collaboration
with Brad Bouse,

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who unfortunately
can't be here today.

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But it wouldn't have been
possible without him.

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So when the reader
goes to this website,

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this is what he or she
is confronted with,

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their own face and
their own body.

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The body is part of
this reading experience.

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And when the book is opened
up in front of the webcam,

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that's when the poems appear.

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"Dear S, I fast.

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I fasten to become compact.

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But listen, that's
only part your impact.

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I always wanted to fit a need.

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It's my character to pin,
impinge, a twinge of jealousy.

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That feign tattoo.

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Last night on the patio, poco
a poco a patch while between us

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unseemly unpleasant, pleasant.

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Let's spread out the pent-up
moment, pentimento, memento,

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a pact.

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Our story is spinto.

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No more Esperanto."

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So Between Page And
Screen is a book

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of poems that asks us to
think about the relationship

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between print and
digital media at a time

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when we're reading more
and more on screens.

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And these love letters
between P and S

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are interspersed with concrete
poems that play with key words

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from their letters.

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I became interested
in the etymology.

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Etymologies of the
words page and screen,

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which appear to be at
odds with one another.

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Page comes from the roots,
it means to join or connect.

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It has all of these
words pertaining

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to pinning and affixing as
this poem makes reference

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to spin, pin into spinto.

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Spin, pin into spinto.

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Whereas, screen
comes from a root.

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It has a lot of-- oh, I should
say that since page gives us

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these words to do with
connection and affixing,

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also gives us peaceful words
like peace, and appease,

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and pact.

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Whereas, screen comes from
a root that means to shine.

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And it gives us a lot
of militaristic terms

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like shield and sword.

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"Dear P, I take your point.

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I didn't mean to cut, but
it's my stripe, my type.

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I'd rather shear than share.

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I wear a scarf to hide my scars.

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My scabs have scabs.

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My heart's a shard.

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I am that Scaramouche.

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I like a joust.

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My tattoo says keep out.

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I prefer arass to
arias, you've guessed,

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a bard of scabbards,
a chorus of cuirass.

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Our nocturnal, a
skirmish was a junto.

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Just that.

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S."

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Sheer.

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Shear.

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Share.

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Shares.

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Shears.

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She hears, ear, shears.

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So many of these
love letters, P and S

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are pushing at the boundaries
of their relationship.

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Page is interested in pinning
down some sort of definition.

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Screen is a little more elusive.

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"Dear S, you blanch.

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I didn't mean to
impale you with my pin,

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my origin's to join
to stake a claim.

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But that root, palus leads both
ways, to Palisade and pole,

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but also travel and travail.

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I ply this narrow palette,
not to palter, but to plait

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our letters, keeping pace.

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Let it lapse, scabs
can be peeled back.

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Pax."

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Pale.

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Pole.

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Peel.

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Pale.

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All of these words come
from the same root as page.

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And have to do with the
joining and connection.

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Of course, a pole is a place
that holds one in place,

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but if tethered to a pole,
one can run a certain circuit.

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"Dear P, you give me space
to undulate, scheren.

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My best subject was
always division.

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I like partition.

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You only get a portion of
the stuff that makes me up,

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or anyone.

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The rest hides.

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I own both sword
and plowshare, sure.

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I lied, not idle.

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I sidle up to either
side that held

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me let slide my I. Oh, yes, S."

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So a screen does have all of
these words related to it that

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are militaristic and dangerous.

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And a page has all of
these pacifist terms.

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But the more you explore
the other words that

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come to us from these
groups, the more

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you see there are connections.

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So a screen while it is a
protective surface, also

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undulates and it can
be sheer like scheren.

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