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[APPLAUSE]

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It's really amazing to be back.

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And thank you, dear,
brilliant Karen

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for that generous introduction.

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Thank you to the Poetry Center.

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I think that I only
truly appreciated

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what you all do here--

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the community you have, what
is offered by the Poetry

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Center and the creative
writing program

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and the English department,
and what you gave me--

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when I left.

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I kind of took it for
granted while I was here.

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But you are a beacon and
you are an inspiration.

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And you've changed my life.

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And I have tried to take
some of what you gave me out

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into the world.

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And I think a lot of
people have done that.

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You send generation
after generation

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out to give a little
bit back, so thank you.

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It's very humbling to be
back among people whose work

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I admire so much.

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Thank you.

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I wanted to read a
few poems that really

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are organized around
study of voice,

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in all senses of that term--

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poetic method, poetic
approach, literal voices.

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And in honor of
wonderful, wonderful Kate,

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this first poem functions
as a fable that actually

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was a real conversation.

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But once I transposed
it out of context,

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it became a fable of
morality and power.

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It has an epigraph from Aubyn.

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"The universe is
stone, but we are not."

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"'Stones.'

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I have a friend who
imprisons stones.

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How do you do that I ask?

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I build little cages
and put them in.

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And why do you
imprison these stones?

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They are immoral stones.

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I oversee the purification
of petrified beings.

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Where do you find
these immoral stones?

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I find them in the river, which
is low in the summer drought.

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Are all the stones
you see immoral?

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No, only the ones I imprison.

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Can you tell which
stones are immoral?

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Yes, I can tell which ones are
immoral, and which are not.

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And where do you keep the cages?

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I keep them on a
shelf near the window.

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And do you keep
them by the window

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so they see their old abode
and know what they have lost?

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I keep them by the
window because that

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is where I have room.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Will you free these stones?

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Yes, when they have
learned morality and are

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purified of being petrified.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Will you teach them
morality and courage?

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No, morality and courage cannot
be taught but they can be

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learned.

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How will imprisoned
stones learn?

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They will learn because
I have moved them

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and that is what
they feared most.

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When will they know
they have learned?

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I will know when they know."

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[LAUGHTER]

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So.

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Yes, over lunch.

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[LAUGHTER]