I have a couple of announcements before I
introduce tonight's poet.
First, the poet Ruth Stone, her reading
has been rescheduled from May 14th to Monday, May 11th.
And she'll read in the Kiva room of the education building
at 7:30.
Also the poet JD Reed, whose new book
Expressways has just recently been released,
I will read Monday, April 27th in the Kiva room, also at 7:30.
I've been asked to announce that the poet Richard Shelton who
read here earlier this year, will also read in Phoenix--
sorry, it should be Tempe I guess,
Wednesday, April 29 in the arts and architecture
auditorium at Arizona State University, at 8 o'clock.
Tonight, Steven Orlen will read from his poems for you.
And I wish I wasn't so nervous about introducing him,
but this is the first time I've ever had this job
and I want to do the best I can.
Steven Orlen was born in Massachusetts,
and attended the University of Massachusetts
and also the University of Iowa, the Iowa Writers' Workshop,
where he took an MFA degree in creative writing.
He's a widely published poet for his age.
And I should say too that his publications for the most part,
are in on the best of American poetry magazines.
He's a good teacher, or so I'm told by his students.
His students like him almost to the point of adoration.
I've heard-- I've never heard a student say anything
bad in any way about Steve Orlen,
and I regard that highly.
And he's been a confidante and a critic for me.
And I wish I could say something that
would be the best thing I could say without sounding really
corny, but Steven Orlen is one of the finest young poets
I know and I'm sure you'll enjoy his reading.
Steve Orlen.
[APPLAUSE]