Thank you.
Thank you to everyone for the great introduction.
I don't know if I can live up to that.
Thank you to the University of Arizona Poetry Center.
Who else do I thank?
Everyone, Akilah, Brandon.
I'm going to start with--
you see any of these that are paper,
that means it's in the manuscript,
and the rest you'll know they're in the book.
"I dreamt we were on this ship made of bone,
speaking a language I've never known.
A retrieved memory of that which has never happened, happened.
The mast and prow were all tusk, and we grafted to it.
Underneath the deck, Jimmy said he asked God for grace
but drew mercy instead.
But it came out all garbly, toothless cab driver palsy.
We had music too, for a while.
Bone and waveform imprinted on the night
with something endless lurching over us,
until we landed in the morning."