WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.400 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.400 --> 00:00:05.760 align:middle line:84% We've had one change in the schedule this year 00:00:05.760 --> 00:00:08.640 align:middle line:84% in the poetry in the schools program. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:14.910 align:middle line:84% Ruth Stone was scheduled to read on May 14th 00:00:14.910 --> 00:00:18.360 align:middle line:84% and that reading has been canceled. 00:00:18.360 --> 00:00:22.060 align:middle line:84% We don't know now-- it may be rescheduled or replaced. 00:00:22.060 --> 00:00:24.600 align:middle line:84% So please watch for announcements. 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:30.660 align:middle line:84% That was to have been on May 14th but it is canceled. 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:34.170 align:middle line:84% And finally, Steve Orlen, who is going 00:00:34.170 --> 00:00:36.540 align:middle line:84% to make the introduction tonight, 00:00:36.540 --> 00:00:42.190 align:middle line:84% will be reading, himself, next week, Wednesday, 00:00:42.190 --> 00:00:47.595 align:middle line:84% April 15th in the Modern Languages auditorium at 8:30. 00:00:47.595 --> 00:00:55.796 align:middle line:90% 00:00:55.796 --> 00:00:57.270 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:00:57.270 --> 00:01:00.480 align:middle line:84% I'm really pleased to introduce Donald Justice tonight 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:04.470 align:middle line:84% because he was one of my teachers 00:01:04.470 --> 00:01:09.420 align:middle line:84% at the writers' workshop at the University of Iowa for a term 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:13.440 align:middle line:84% and because his poetry has had an influence on my poetry 00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:16.890 align:middle line:90% and on my life too. 00:01:16.890 --> 00:01:20.430 align:middle line:84% I'll say a few things about his publications. 00:01:20.430 --> 00:01:25.200 align:middle line:84% He's had two books of poetry and two pamphlets of poetry. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:29.880 align:middle line:84% The first book was The Summer Anniversaries, 00:01:29.880 --> 00:01:33.900 align:middle line:84% which was published in 1958 and won the Lamont Poetry 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:38.130 align:middle line:84% Award for first book of the year, which 00:01:38.130 --> 00:01:41.220 align:middle line:84% was sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. 00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:45.720 align:middle line:84% And another book, which came out in 1967 or '68, 00:01:45.720 --> 00:01:50.280 align:middle line:84% called Night Light, both by Wesleyan University Press. 00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:54.750 align:middle line:84% And any day now, he will have a pamphlet 00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:57.870 align:middle line:84% to be called simply 16 Poems, which 00:01:57.870 --> 00:02:01.080 align:middle line:84% will be published by the Stonewall Press 00:02:01.080 --> 00:02:04.770 align:middle line:90% in Iowa City, Iowa. 00:02:04.770 --> 00:02:07.950 align:middle line:84% The man who prints those books, they're-- 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:10.229 align:middle line:84% turn out to be very quickly rare books. 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:12.550 align:middle line:84% They only published 200 or 300 copies of them. 00:02:12.550 --> 00:02:15.160 align:middle line:84% So if you're interested, you might send away real quick 00:02:15.160 --> 00:02:15.660 align:middle line:90% for it. 00:02:15.660 --> 00:02:20.200 align:middle line:90% 00:02:20.200 --> 00:02:23.800 align:middle line:84% I've been realizing in the last six months or so something 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:26.410 align:middle line:84% I knew all along but hadn't really thought about much 00:02:26.410 --> 00:02:31.360 align:middle line:84% that there's been how much good and lush poetry 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.960 align:middle line:84% that there has been written in America 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.230 align:middle line:90% for the last 10 or 15 years. 00:02:38.230 --> 00:02:42.280 align:middle line:84% It seems like a silver age of poetry. 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:46.090 align:middle line:84% It's hard to tell how many great poets will come out of it. 00:02:46.090 --> 00:02:47.530 align:middle line:90% One never knows that. 00:02:47.530 --> 00:02:51.430 align:middle line:84% But there's a lot of good poetry being written. 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:56.140 align:middle line:84% Among that poetry, it's always difficult to-- 00:02:56.140 --> 00:02:58.120 align:middle line:84% and maybe unnecessary, I suppose-- 00:02:58.120 --> 00:02:59.500 align:middle line:90% to say, who's the best? 00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:01.600 align:middle line:90% Who's the best poet of an age? 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:05.320 align:middle line:84% Or who are the best 10 or 5 poets or whatever. 00:03:05.320 --> 00:03:08.830 align:middle line:84% But one can tell something by what impact 00:03:08.830 --> 00:03:15.460 align:middle line:84% the poetry has on younger poets during a particular age. 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:18.760 align:middle line:84% And as a teacher, I think, and as a poet, 00:03:18.760 --> 00:03:22.240 align:middle line:84% Donald Justice has probably had as much or more influence 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:27.190 align:middle line:84% than any of the poets writing today on younger poets. 00:03:27.190 --> 00:03:31.690 align:middle line:84% And that influence shows on the best of the younger 00:03:31.690 --> 00:03:35.260 align:middle line:90% poets writing in America today. 00:03:35.260 --> 00:03:40.510 align:middle line:84% What his poetry has taught me more than anything else-- 00:03:40.510 --> 00:03:43.240 align:middle line:84% I mean, the humanness behind it is 00:03:43.240 --> 00:03:51.760 align:middle line:84% a kind of a tough self-honesty, which maybe paradoxically, I 00:03:51.760 --> 00:03:56.710 align:middle line:84% don't know, combines with a gentleness and a humanity. 00:03:56.710 --> 00:04:03.370 align:middle line:84% If I could sum up the tone of Donald Justice's poetry, 00:04:03.370 --> 00:04:06.070 align:middle line:84% it comes out in a short poem that he'll probably 00:04:06.070 --> 00:04:07.960 align:middle line:84% read tonight called "The Thin Man" 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:14.020 align:middle line:84% in which there is a phrase, rich refusals. 00:04:14.020 --> 00:04:16.630 align:middle line:84% I don't know how to explain how that ties in, 00:04:16.630 --> 00:04:20.589 align:middle line:84% but somehow there's a strength in whatever refusals there are 00:04:20.589 --> 00:04:23.410 align:middle line:84% and whatever acceptances there are in his poetry. 00:04:23.410 --> 00:04:26.750 align:middle line:84% They're strong, they're honest, and they're rich. 00:04:26.750 --> 00:04:27.250 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:29.260 align:middle line:90% I give you Donald Justice. 00:04:29.260 --> 00:04:31.710 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:31.710 --> 00:04:40.000 align:middle line:90%