WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.660 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:03.600 align:middle line:84%
So we'll read from his poetry
and from his recent memoir

00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:06.960 align:middle line:84%
for about 40 minutes, and then
we'll have time for a Q&A.

00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.720 align:middle line:84%
After that, Philip will be
happy to sign books up here

00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:14.400 align:middle line:84%
at the podium, and we have
his books for sale over there,

00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.950 align:middle line:90%
20% off.

00:00:16.950 --> 00:00:20.340 align:middle line:84%
Phil will be introduced by
Christy Delehanty, who I'm

00:00:20.340 --> 00:00:24.240 align:middle line:90%
very pleased to now introduce.

00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:28.050 align:middle line:84%
Christy is a U of A senior,
double majoring in linguistics

00:00:28.050 --> 00:00:32.250 align:middle line:84%
and creative writing,
and a minor in English.

00:00:32.250 --> 00:00:34.830 align:middle line:84%
She serves as president of
the undergraduate English

00:00:34.830 --> 00:00:37.800 align:middle line:84%
and creative writing club, and
she works as an arts writer

00:00:37.800 --> 00:00:42.090 align:middle line:84%
at "The Daily Wildcats," and as
a tutor in the Writing Center.

00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:43.290 align:middle line:90%
How does she do it all?

00:00:43.290 --> 00:00:45.180 align:middle line:90%
But that's not all.

00:00:45.180 --> 00:00:48.210 align:middle line:84%
She also works 20 hours a
week at the Poetry Center,

00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:51.630 align:middle line:84%
and she has for two years as
our programs and marketing

00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:52.540 align:middle line:90%
assistant.

00:00:52.540 --> 00:00:54.290 align:middle line:84%
She is an amazing
young person, she

00:00:54.290 --> 00:00:56.790 align:middle line:84%
has been such a great asset to
the Poetry Center in her time

00:00:56.790 --> 00:00:57.300 align:middle line:90%
with us.

00:00:57.300 --> 00:00:59.760 align:middle line:84%
She's done so much work on
behalf of the Poetry Center

00:00:59.760 --> 00:01:02.080 align:middle line:90%
and the poetry community.

00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:05.727 align:middle line:84%
And she is also a fan of the
poetry of Philip Schultz.

00:01:05.727 --> 00:01:07.560 align:middle line:84%
So everyone, please
help me welcome Christy.

00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:10.030 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:15.470 align:middle line:90%


00:01:15.470 --> 00:01:17.540 align:middle line:84%
Pulitzer Prize winning
poet Philip Schultz

00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:19.860 align:middle line:84%
is the author of several
collections of poetry,

00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:21.290 align:middle line:84%
including the "God
of Loneliness,"

00:01:21.290 --> 00:01:23.330 align:middle line:84%
"New and Selected
Poems," "Failure,"

00:01:23.330 --> 00:01:26.120 align:middle line:84%
"Living in the Past," and
"The Holy Worm of Praise"

00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:28.070 align:middle line:90%
all from Harcourt.

00:01:28.070 --> 00:01:29.930 align:middle line:84%
In addition to the
Pulitzer for failure,

00:01:29.930 --> 00:01:33.080 align:middle line:84%
his many awards include
Fulbright, Guggenheim, and NEA

00:01:33.080 --> 00:01:34.250 align:middle line:90%
fellowships.

00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:36.080 align:middle line:84%
After a four year
stint as director

00:01:36.080 --> 00:01:38.720 align:middle line:84%
of NYU's graduate
creative writing program,

00:01:38.720 --> 00:01:40.160 align:middle line:84%
Schultz founded
and has continued

00:01:40.160 --> 00:01:43.280 align:middle line:84%
to direct the writer studio,
a private school for fiction

00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.810 align:middle line:84%
and poetry writing
based in New York

00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:49.220 align:middle line:84%
City with branches in Tucson,
San Francisco, and Amsterdam.

00:01:49.220 --> 00:01:53.000 align:middle line:84%
Norman Mailer hails Schultz as a
hell of a poet, one of the very

00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:55.400 align:middle line:84%
best of his generation,
full of slashing language,

00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:57.440 align:middle line:84%
good rhythms,
surprises, and the power

00:01:57.440 --> 00:02:00.290 align:middle line:84%
to leave you meditating
in the cave of his poems.

00:02:00.290 --> 00:02:03.530 align:middle line:84%
Rain Taxi Review of Books adds
that Schultz's intertwining

00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:06.380 align:middle line:84%
of the historical and the
personal joy and sorrow,

00:02:06.380 --> 00:02:10.070 align:middle line:84%
and dreams and reality,
gives readers much to ponder.

00:02:10.070 --> 00:02:13.040 align:middle line:84%
Indeed, Schultz's poetry
reads like a thoroughly honest

00:02:13.040 --> 00:02:16.400 align:middle line:84%
outpouring, neither melodramatic
nor artificially cool.

00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.220 align:middle line:84%
And ranging in subject
from Salt shakers

00:02:19.220 --> 00:02:21.230 align:middle line:84%
to the Twin Towers
falling, his work

00:02:21.230 --> 00:02:24.020 align:middle line:84%
is steeped in
wonder at the world.

00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:26.900 align:middle line:84%
He operates not as an aesthetic
you can characterize or gimmick

00:02:26.900 --> 00:02:28.130 align:middle line:90%
you can grasp.

00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:30.680 align:middle line:84%
His brilliance up to and
including the literal luster

00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:32.210 align:middle line:84%
that throws light
through his poems

00:02:32.210 --> 00:02:35.240 align:middle line:84%
lies in his succinct
crystalline language.

00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:37.250 align:middle line:84%
A diamond you might
know is an allotrope

00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:40.490 align:middle line:84%
of carbon, the element
of food, fuel and not

00:02:40.490 --> 00:02:42.560 align:middle line:90%
insignificantly graphite.

00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.510 align:middle line:84%
What makes the diamond a diamond
is its immaculate structure,

00:02:45.510 --> 00:02:47.510 align:middle line:84%
which renders what might
otherwise have wound up

00:02:47.510 --> 00:02:50.720 align:middle line:84%
something closer to coal
incomparably solid and as good

00:02:50.720 --> 00:02:52.160 align:middle line:90%
as indelible.

00:02:52.160 --> 00:02:54.470 align:middle line:84%
Likewise Schultz's
elegant simplicity

00:02:54.470 --> 00:02:57.800 align:middle line:84%
leaves his work refreshingly
uncomplicated in a way that

00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:01.100 align:middle line:84%
all but estranges it from
the form from which it arose.

00:03:01.100 --> 00:03:04.340 align:middle line:84%
The poetry foundation
for Michael Atkinson

00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:06.440 align:middle line:84%
praises a similar
hardness, saying

00:03:06.440 --> 00:03:09.710 align:middle line:84%
that Schultz cuts out moments as
if out of weather toughened oak

00:03:09.710 --> 00:03:13.940 align:middle line:84%
in a way that a $50 word or a
pungent metaphor might soften.

00:03:13.940 --> 00:03:15.770 align:middle line:84%
Be they diamond or
hardwood, Schultz's is

00:03:15.770 --> 00:03:17.750 align:middle line:84%
inescapably singular
explorations

00:03:17.750 --> 00:03:20.360 align:middle line:84%
of the elemental every
day seem to readily find

00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:21.890 align:middle line:90%
their way into hearts.

00:03:21.890 --> 00:03:23.720 align:middle line:84%
Indeed, it is by
virtue of Schultz's

00:03:23.720 --> 00:03:27.650 align:middle line:84%
pure emotional resonance that
his work is so hard to dissect.

00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:32.060 align:middle line:84%
Like pressure cooked carbon,
it is what it is, only better.

00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:34.810 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:03:34.810 --> 00:03:38.000 align:middle line:90%