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Fanny Howe read for
the Poetry Center

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for the first time in
the spring of 2003.

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It was my first year as
director of the Poetry Center,

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and my first exposure
to Howe's work.

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She had recently won the
Lenore Marshall prize

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from the Academy of American
Poets for her Selected Poems,

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and her next book of
poetry entitled Gone

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had just come out.

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I read these books and
others prior to her visit

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and I don't mind telling
you, I was astonished.

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Her work demanded a
quality of attention

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that was distinct from
other work I'd read.

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Her poems are taut with
inventive sound lines.

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She invites you to glimpse
the words behind the words,

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navigating the suffering and
wonder of the here and now,

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and landing always
on uncertain ground.

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For as she says in her
essay, Bewilderment,

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"The human heart doesn't
want answers to questions

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so much as to lengthen the
resonance of those questions."

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Fanny Howe's devoted readers,
and there are many of them,

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can't seem to help
but give themselves

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over to this journey, and
willingly, gratefully, reside

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in her resounding inquiry.

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Poet Anne Lauterbach
writing in The Nation

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at the time of the
Lenore Marshall award

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describes the force of
Howe's poetry this way.

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This is one of the most succinct
and accurate descriptions

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I've ever read of Fanny's work.

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Quote, "A spare tonality
moves against the density

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and complexity of her vision,
where a classic lyric voice

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is annealed to a
spiritual quest,

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buffeted and
embattled by resisting

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political and social realities.

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This tension is what gives
the poems their power."

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Since 2003, Fanny Howe has
gone on to produce three more

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books of poetry, most
recently Come and See,

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three works of fiction and a
book of essays, The Winter Sun,

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Notes on a Vocation.

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Johanna Skibsrud
reviews this book

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on the Poetry Center's
website, figuratively

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unfolding the work, all of the
essays and their many parts.

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With over 30 books to her
credit and numerous awards,

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including the Ruth
Lilly Poetry Prize,

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Fanny Howe has made a
necessary and lasting mark

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on the trajectory of
contemporary poetry,

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and we are fortunate to
have her with us tonight.

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Please welcome Fanny Howe.

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[APPLAUSE]

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