WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.490 align:middle line:90% 00:00:13.490 --> 00:00:17.000 align:middle line:84% Poets sponsored by the Ruth Stephan Poetry Center. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.500 align:middle line:84% I have a couple of announcements I'd 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:21.510 align:middle line:84% like to make before we have an introduction. 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:26.420 align:middle line:84% A week from today on December 17th in this auditorium we're 00:00:26.420 --> 00:00:28.940 align:middle line:90% going to have a happenstance. 00:00:28.940 --> 00:00:31.580 align:middle line:84% It's a kind of sensory convergence. 00:00:31.580 --> 00:00:35.660 align:middle line:84% We're going to use poetry and music, slides, 00:00:35.660 --> 00:00:42.680 align:middle line:84% and films to celebrate the planet we live on. 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:51.890 align:middle line:84% And on January 7th, we will have the third poet in our series. 00:00:51.890 --> 00:00:54.710 align:middle line:84% It will be in this auditorium also. 00:00:54.710 --> 00:00:57.890 align:middle line:84% And that poet will be Richard Shelton 00:00:57.890 --> 00:01:02.540 align:middle line:84% who is a Tucson resident and who has been asked to make 00:01:02.540 --> 00:01:03.620 align:middle line:90% the introduction tonight. 00:01:03.620 --> 00:01:10.055 align:middle line:90% 00:01:10.055 --> 00:01:11.980 align:middle line:90% I'm going to break my rule. 00:01:11.980 --> 00:01:14.900 align:middle line:84% Short introductions and give you a little longer one. 00:01:14.900 --> 00:01:19.400 align:middle line:84% Because I think there's no other way to cover this. 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:23.180 align:middle line:84% Mr. Hitchcock is going to read to us tonight. 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:28.850 align:middle line:84% He is a giant on the literary scene today. 00:01:28.850 --> 00:01:31.490 align:middle line:84% And people who follow contemporary poetry I'm sure 00:01:31.490 --> 00:01:32.870 align:middle line:90% will agree with me. 00:01:32.870 --> 00:01:34.850 align:middle line:84% He's also a pretty good guy to [? spell ?],, 00:01:34.850 --> 00:01:38.270 align:middle line:90% as you'll see in a few moments. 00:01:38.270 --> 00:01:42.350 align:middle line:84% His poetry is often the gentle, not always. 00:01:42.350 --> 00:01:45.680 align:middle line:84% But I feel that he's tough as nails. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.760 align:middle line:84% And I think a lot of other people 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:49.430 align:middle line:90% would agree with that too. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:53.460 align:middle line:90% I mean he can be tough as nails. 00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:58.310 align:middle line:84% I think it's justified by the standards he has 00:01:58.310 --> 00:02:01.520 align:middle line:90% set for himself and for others. 00:02:01.520 --> 00:02:04.880 align:middle line:84% He can't be compared to anyone because there 00:02:04.880 --> 00:02:07.250 align:middle line:84% is no one with whom he's comparable 00:02:07.250 --> 00:02:10.310 align:middle line:90% that I know of today anyway. 00:02:10.310 --> 00:02:14.060 align:middle line:84% His books of poetry include Poems 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:19.010 align:middle line:84% in Print, published in 1962, Tactics of Survival, 00:02:19.010 --> 00:02:24.080 align:middle line:84% 1965, The Dolphin with the Revolver in its Teeth, 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:32.030 align:middle line:84% 1967, Ship of Bells, 1968, and "12 Stanzas in Praise 00:02:32.030 --> 00:02:37.550 align:middle line:84% of the Holy Chariot," a group of side poems published in 1968. 00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:39.710 align:middle line:84% He is the editor of two anthologies 00:02:39.710 --> 00:02:46.190 align:middle line:84% of found poetry, Losers, Weepers and Lost and Found. 00:02:46.190 --> 00:02:50.360 align:middle line:84% He's the author of seven plays and a volume of short stories. 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:52.925 align:middle line:84% He's currently writing a surrealistic novel. 00:02:52.925 --> 00:02:55.550 align:middle line:90% 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:58.790 align:middle line:84% This gives you some idea of his literary output. 00:02:58.790 --> 00:03:03.680 align:middle line:84% He is also a very, very well-known publisher. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.200 align:middle line:84% He's the editor and publisher of Kayak, 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:10.640 align:middle line:84% which is regarded by many as the country's leading magazine 00:03:10.640 --> 00:03:13.220 align:middle line:90% of contemporary poetry. 00:03:13.220 --> 00:03:16.430 align:middle line:84% He also edits and publishes Kayak Books, 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:20.930 align:middle line:84% which has won two successive major awards for quality 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:24.320 align:middle line:84% from the National Endowment for the Arts. 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:29.840 align:middle line:84% By means of Kayak, the magazine, and Kayak Books, 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.900 align:middle line:84% Mr. Hitchcock has discovered, and published, 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.410 align:middle line:90% and encouraged many young-- 00:03:36.410 --> 00:03:40.250 align:middle line:84% or not so young-- but at least unknown poets. 00:03:40.250 --> 00:03:48.410 align:middle line:84% In this way, he has been able to push certain people, 00:03:48.410 --> 00:03:51.590 align:middle line:90% to encourage them and help them. 00:03:51.590 --> 00:03:56.790 align:middle line:84% I'm one of those people and I want to thank him publicly, 00:03:56.790 --> 00:04:01.430 align:middle line:84% not only for myself, but for so many others whom he has taken 00:04:01.430 --> 00:04:06.090 align:middle line:90% a chance on and published. 00:04:06.090 --> 00:04:08.970 align:middle line:84% Mr. Hitchcock was always a pioneer 00:04:08.970 --> 00:04:13.000 align:middle line:84% and he has expanded contemporary literature considerably, 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:14.130 align:middle line:90% I think. 00:04:14.130 --> 00:04:18.380 align:middle line:84% by working in such areas and encouraging such areas 00:04:18.380 --> 00:04:24.891 align:middle line:84% as the side poems, the collage poems, prose poems, 00:04:24.891 --> 00:04:27.450 align:middle line:90% and many others-- 00:04:27.450 --> 00:04:29.760 align:middle line:90% found poems. 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:32.340 align:middle line:84% He was, for many years, a journalist 00:04:32.340 --> 00:04:38.520 align:middle line:84% and has edited the San Francisco Review in 1961 and '62. 00:04:38.520 --> 00:04:41.880 align:middle line:84% He's also been associated with the theater for many years 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:45.405 align:middle line:84% as an actor, a playwright, and a director. 00:04:45.405 --> 00:04:48.500 align:middle line:90% 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:52.400 align:middle line:84% It is, however, as a poet that he comes to us tonight 00:04:52.400 --> 00:04:56.060 align:middle line:84% and I think he has earned that title. 00:04:56.060 --> 00:04:59.780 align:middle line:84% I think poet is a title which has to be earned. 00:04:59.780 --> 00:05:04.310 align:middle line:84% And many would be poets hanging out their shingles 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:05.600 align:middle line:90% before they've earned it. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:07.970 align:middle line:90% This man has really earned it. 00:05:07.970 --> 00:05:09.470 align:middle line:84% And how well he has earned it, we 00:05:09.470 --> 00:05:13.580 align:middle line:84% will find out very soon when you hear him read. 00:05:13.580 --> 00:05:16.550 align:middle line:84% I'm honored to know him and delighted 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:18.830 align:middle line:90% to present him to you. 00:05:18.830 --> 00:05:21.230 align:middle line:90% George Hitchcock, poet. 00:05:21.230 --> 00:05:23.980 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:36.000 align:middle line:90%