WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.290 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.290 --> 00:00:04.330 align:middle line:84% Ladies and gentlemen, you are indeed 00:00:04.330 --> 00:00:08.200 align:middle line:84% welcome to this sixth major reading, 00:00:08.200 --> 00:00:14.320 align:middle line:84% poetry reading of the 1970-71 year. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:20.860 align:middle line:84% I have an announcement concerning the spring poetry 00:00:20.860 --> 00:00:24.880 align:middle line:84% contest in the campus for students, 00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:28.120 align:middle line:84% anyone who desires and needs information about the poetry 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:32.380 align:middle line:84% contest should get in touch with the Poetry Center. 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:38.170 align:middle line:84% And one other announcement, the reception 00:00:38.170 --> 00:00:41.620 align:middle line:84% after tonight's reading, which had been planned 00:00:41.620 --> 00:00:48.640 align:middle line:84% for the South Lawn of the Poetry Center, 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:53.530 align:middle line:84% has been changed to the Terrace Lounge of the Student Union 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:57.750 align:middle line:84% due to the threat of inclement weather. 00:00:57.750 --> 00:01:02.620 align:middle line:84% All of you are welcome at the reception to meet our poet 00:01:02.620 --> 00:01:05.830 align:middle line:84% and help drink the punch and eat the cookies. 00:01:05.830 --> 00:01:09.760 align:middle line:90% 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:14.590 align:middle line:84% Some 11 years ago, Ruth Stephan gave 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:18.790 align:middle line:84% to the University of Arizona a small cottage 00:01:18.790 --> 00:01:25.150 align:middle line:84% on Highland Avenue near Speedway where she had been living 00:01:25.150 --> 00:01:33.580 align:middle line:84% and had been finishing her novel My Crown, My Love. 00:01:33.580 --> 00:01:39.580 align:middle line:84% It was to be used as a library for poetry 00:01:39.580 --> 00:01:44.980 align:middle line:84% where students might drop in and read. 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:48.250 align:middle line:84% She also gave the initial collection of 600 volumes. 00:01:48.250 --> 00:01:51.230 align:middle line:90% 00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:55.420 align:middle line:84% She had had such a library in her own house 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:57.280 align:middle line:90% when her children were growing. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:00.880 align:middle line:84% And she had seen how its presence instilled 00:02:00.880 --> 00:02:05.320 align:middle line:90% in her family a love for poetry. 00:02:05.320 --> 00:02:11.260 align:middle line:84% By the fall of 1961, when Robert Frost was here on the campus, 00:02:11.260 --> 00:02:14.650 align:middle line:84% the new Center was ready for use. 00:02:14.650 --> 00:02:21.820 align:middle line:84% Was with Mrs. Stephan present, Frost gave his blessing 00:02:21.820 --> 00:02:24.730 align:middle line:90% to the unique venture. 00:02:24.730 --> 00:02:29.080 align:middle line:84% In the 10 years since, the Ruth Stephan Poetry Center 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:31.810 align:middle line:90% has moved into a larger house. 00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:36.580 align:middle line:84% Its library has grown five-fold, and its program 00:02:36.580 --> 00:02:41.260 align:middle line:84% of presenting living poetry and live poets to the campus 00:02:41.260 --> 00:02:44.620 align:middle line:90% and the town has flourished. 00:02:44.620 --> 00:02:49.240 align:middle line:84% Among poets and friends of poetry around the country, 00:02:49.240 --> 00:02:53.890 align:middle line:90% the Center is known and admired. 00:02:53.890 --> 00:02:59.170 align:middle line:84% Its impact has been greatest on Arizona students. 00:02:59.170 --> 00:03:03.250 align:middle line:84% Soon after the Center moved into its present quarters, 00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:11.230 align:middle line:84% I followed one evening two men students 00:03:11.230 --> 00:03:13.990 align:middle line:84% up the steps of the Center heading for an evening 00:03:13.990 --> 00:03:17.410 align:middle line:90% of program of readings. 00:03:17.410 --> 00:03:22.720 align:middle line:84% I overheard this, "Gee," one of them said to the other, 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:24.820 align:middle line:84% "I wasn't aware that this university 00:03:24.820 --> 00:03:26.635 align:middle line:84% was interested in anything but football." 00:03:26.635 --> 00:03:29.770 align:middle line:90% 00:03:29.770 --> 00:03:32.150 align:middle line:84% With the cooperation of the university, 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:35.770 align:middle line:84% Ruth Stephan has continued to support the Center 00:03:35.770 --> 00:03:40.660 align:middle line:84% with counsel, encouragement, and money. 00:03:40.660 --> 00:03:45.910 align:middle line:84% Because she herself is a fine poet, the giver and the gift 00:03:45.910 --> 00:03:51.700 align:middle line:84% have blended in a rare and happy way. 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:54.700 align:middle line:84% Many of you know of her accomplishments 00:03:54.700 --> 00:03:59.080 align:middle line:84% as a poet, novelist, editor, translator. 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:03.370 align:middle line:90% 00:04:03.370 --> 00:04:08.530 align:middle line:84% To recall a few of them, very briefly, in the late 40s 00:04:08.530 --> 00:04:12.010 align:middle line:84% she conceived and edited practically single 00:04:12.010 --> 00:04:18.100 align:middle line:84% handed the unusual literary and art magazine 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:24.640 align:middle line:84% The Tiger's Eye, of which incidentally, the Center owns 00:04:24.640 --> 00:04:28.060 align:middle line:90% a rare complete run. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:32.710 align:middle line:84% She published two successful historical novels-- 00:04:32.710 --> 00:04:38.650 align:middle line:84% on the 17th century, Queen Christina of Sweden, The Flight 00:04:38.650 --> 00:04:42.310 align:middle line:90% and My Crown, My Love. 00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:48.160 align:middle line:84% She translated and edited a volume of Peruvian folk verse. 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:53.290 align:middle line:84% She has had two volumes of her own poetry published, 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:58.060 align:middle line:84% Prelude to Poetry and Various Poems. 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:01.010 align:middle line:84% And in her travels around the world, 00:05:01.010 --> 00:05:06.520 align:middle line:84% she has been an enthusiastic apostle for poetry and letters 00:05:06.520 --> 00:05:10.030 align:middle line:84% as a medium for international understanding. 00:05:10.030 --> 00:05:12.640 align:middle line:84% In 1963, the University of Arizona 00:05:12.640 --> 00:05:16.720 align:middle line:84% recognized her achievements by awarding her the degree 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.230 align:middle line:90% of Doctor of Letters. 00:05:20.230 --> 00:05:22.720 align:middle line:84% Poet William Meredith, who was here 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:27.010 align:middle line:84% with Robert Frost on the occasion of the Center's birth, 00:05:27.010 --> 00:05:29.140 align:middle line:84% had wanted to be here for this celebration 00:05:29.140 --> 00:05:31.480 align:middle line:90% of its 10th birthday. 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:35.080 align:middle line:84% He asked whether he might have the honor of introducing 00:05:35.080 --> 00:05:38.410 align:middle line:90% Ruth for her reading. 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:41.620 align:middle line:84% To everyone's disappointment, it proved impossible 00:05:41.620 --> 00:05:45.760 align:middle line:84% for him to make the journey from Connecticut at this time. 00:05:45.760 --> 00:05:49.450 align:middle line:90% But I have here his tribute. 00:05:49.450 --> 00:05:53.780 align:middle line:84% And I read Bill Meredith's words, 00:05:53.780 --> 00:05:58.030 align:middle line:84% "If Ruth Stephan had done no more than create and guide 00:05:58.030 --> 00:06:02.650 align:middle line:84% The Tiger's Eye, that brilliant symposium of creative site 00:06:02.650 --> 00:06:08.440 align:middle line:84% and action, poets would have been left in her lasting debt. 00:06:08.440 --> 00:06:11.740 align:middle line:84% I have rediscovered the excellence of the magazine 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:16.720 align:middle line:84% every time I have stayed at the poet's cottage in Tucson. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:21.970 align:middle line:84% But the same imagination went on to contrive in the poet's house 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:24.910 align:middle line:90% another kind of gift to poetry. 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:29.890 align:middle line:84% I have stayed there three times and written poems there. 00:06:29.890 --> 00:06:33.440 align:middle line:84% I was privileged to be at the dedication of the house. 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:35.200 align:middle line:84% And I remember thinking how hard it 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:39.370 align:middle line:84% must have been to give away even to fellow poets 00:06:39.370 --> 00:06:43.780 align:middle line:84% a place where one's own work had gone well. 00:06:43.780 --> 00:06:47.410 align:middle line:84% For it is as a poet that Ruth Stephan comes 00:06:47.410 --> 00:06:49.810 align:middle line:90% at her other creative acts. 00:06:49.810 --> 00:06:52.810 align:middle line:84% And her latest gift of poetry in Tucson 00:06:52.810 --> 00:06:57.640 align:middle line:84% is an appropriate reminder of this, a reading of her own fine 00:06:57.640 --> 00:06:59.630 align:middle line:90% work. 00:06:59.630 --> 00:07:00.130 align:middle line:90% Ruth." 00:07:00.130 --> 00:07:03.623 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:07:03.623 --> 00:07:12.610 align:middle line:90% 00:07:12.610 --> 00:07:15.070 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:07:15.070 --> 00:07:19.210 align:middle line:84% I'm often asked why I gave the Poetry 00:07:19.210 --> 00:07:21.760 align:middle line:84% Center to the University of Arizona 00:07:21.760 --> 00:07:26.870 align:middle line:84% not to any of the places I have lived. 00:07:26.870 --> 00:07:31.000 align:middle line:84% Well, the truth is that this is where I woke up with the idea 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:35.050 align:middle line:90% and I had to do it immediately. 00:07:35.050 --> 00:07:39.670 align:middle line:84% It was a completely spontaneous idea. 00:07:39.670 --> 00:07:45.220 align:middle line:84% And this idea couldn't have lasted a year 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:48.610 align:middle line:90% if it hadn't been embodied. 00:07:48.610 --> 00:07:50.860 align:middle line:84% So while you're thanking me, I think 00:07:50.860 --> 00:07:54.580 align:middle line:84% you should also thank the persons who 00:07:54.580 --> 00:07:57.880 align:middle line:84% entered this in the beginning and have worked 00:07:57.880 --> 00:08:02.320 align:middle line:84% every day for 10 years to give you and me 00:08:02.320 --> 00:08:04.570 align:middle line:90% and the poets what we have now. 00:08:04.570 --> 00:08:08.290 align:middle line:84% Now I'm going to name them in the order of which they 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:10.720 align:middle line:90% heard of the idea. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:13.780 align:middle line:84% Now the first one who heard it was right after I woke up 00:08:13.780 --> 00:08:16.360 align:middle line:90% and that was Lucy Taylor. 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:17.710 align:middle line:90% Stand up. 00:08:17.710 --> 00:08:23.760 align:middle line:84% And she's been with it ever since. 00:08:23.760 --> 00:08:28.140 align:middle line:84% Now the next one who heard it was about half an hour later 00:08:28.140 --> 00:08:33.929 align:middle line:84% when I made a telephone call to my landlady to tell her I 00:08:33.929 --> 00:08:37.620 align:middle line:84% would buy the house after renting it for two years 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:42.570 align:middle line:84% if the University of Arizona would accept it as a gift. 00:08:42.570 --> 00:08:45.990 align:middle line:84% Of course, I said I didn't know anybody 00:08:45.990 --> 00:08:48.360 align:middle line:84% at all at the university but this was just an idea. 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:50.220 align:middle line:90% Now this lady was Ada McCormick 00:08:50.220 --> 00:08:53.502 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:08:53.502 --> 00:08:58.480 align:middle line:90% 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:01.390 align:middle line:84% You see, she's still working with us. 00:09:01.390 --> 00:09:05.110 align:middle line:84% In four hours, Ada McCormick had me 00:09:05.110 --> 00:09:09.310 align:middle line:84% sitting in the Office of the President of the university who 00:09:09.310 --> 00:09:12.850 align:middle line:84% had never heard of me nor I ever met him. 00:09:12.850 --> 00:09:16.270 align:middle line:84% And this president immediately recognized this idea 00:09:16.270 --> 00:09:23.050 align:middle line:84% as something he liked for the university and accepted it. 00:09:23.050 --> 00:09:24.860 align:middle line:90% This is Dr. Harvill. 00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:25.360 align:middle line:90% Who still-- 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:28.172 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:09:28.172 --> 00:09:31.080 align:middle line:90% 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:34.110 align:middle line:84% So Dr. Harvill appointed a board. 00:09:34.110 --> 00:09:37.080 align:middle line:84% He asked me if I knew anyone at the University of Arizona 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:38.360 align:middle line:90% and I said no. 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:44.080 align:middle line:84% And then I said I did meet one man at the party of a friend. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.610 align:middle line:84% So he appointed this man as the chairman of the board, Dr. 00:09:47.610 --> 00:09:49.740 align:middle line:90% Laurence Muir, stand up. 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:54.240 align:middle line:90% 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:58.030 align:middle line:84% Now let's see who we've got next. 00:09:58.030 --> 00:10:03.450 align:middle line:84% Oh, yes the next one who was then 00:10:03.450 --> 00:10:06.030 align:middle line:84% vice president of the university, 00:10:06.030 --> 00:10:09.250 align:middle line:90% is the one who changed the name. 00:10:09.250 --> 00:10:12.030 align:middle line:84% The name was to be the University of Arizona Poetry 00:10:12.030 --> 00:10:13.380 align:middle line:90% House. 00:10:13.380 --> 00:10:17.820 align:middle line:84% And this wonderful man, David Patrick, 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:23.520 align:middle line:84% who can't be here in person because he's not alive, 00:10:23.520 --> 00:10:28.200 align:middle line:84% took me to lunch, and gave me one or two martinis, 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.660 align:middle line:84% I don't know if I counted, insisting 00:10:30.660 --> 00:10:34.770 align:middle line:84% that it had to be called the Ruth Stephan Poetry Center. 00:10:34.770 --> 00:10:38.340 align:middle line:84% I kept insisting that if he named it 00:10:38.340 --> 00:10:41.100 align:middle line:84% that I would think I was dead every time 00:10:41.100 --> 00:10:43.860 align:middle line:90% I looked at the name. 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:45.690 align:middle line:84% But after a couple of martinis, you just 00:10:45.690 --> 00:10:48.840 align:middle line:84% don't know if you're dead or alive so we did it. 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.260 align:middle line:84% Then came the rest of the board and there's 00:10:52.260 --> 00:10:56.190 align:middle line:84% one I don't know if she's here tonight, who was teaching 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:58.950 align:middle line:84% the only class of modern poetry at the time, 00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:01.755 align:middle line:84% if my history is accurate, Dorothy Fuller. 00:11:01.755 --> 00:11:03.938 align:middle line:90% Has Dorothy come? 00:11:03.938 --> 00:11:04.480 align:middle line:90% Where is she? 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:05.710 align:middle line:90% There she is. 00:11:05.710 --> 00:11:12.090 align:middle line:90% 00:11:12.090 --> 00:11:15.780 align:middle line:84% Then I walked into the Poetry Center after I had given it 00:11:15.780 --> 00:11:16.860 align:middle line:90% and they started it. 00:11:16.860 --> 00:11:19.620 align:middle line:84% And there was sitting a graduate student 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:20.970 align:middle line:90% or I didn't know who it was. 00:11:20.970 --> 00:11:22.800 align:middle line:84% There was sitting a young man reading, 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:25.950 align:middle line:84% said he was a graduate, in fact, I walked in the door, 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:29.510 align:middle line:84% just been set up with the books, and I said, who are you? 00:11:29.510 --> 00:11:32.040 align:middle line:84% And he said, to me, who were you? 00:11:32.040 --> 00:11:34.500 align:middle line:90% So we exchanged names. 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:39.467 align:middle line:84% And that young man has been one of the most important persons 00:11:39.467 --> 00:11:40.050 align:middle line:90% in the Center. 00:11:40.050 --> 00:11:41.320 align:middle line:90% That's Richard Shelton. 00:11:41.320 --> 00:11:41.940 align:middle line:90% Did he come? 00:11:41.940 --> 00:11:50.120 align:middle line:90% 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:53.450 align:middle line:84% And as you know, he is not only carried 00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:57.560 align:middle line:84% out teaching creative poetry, but is now 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:02.270 align:middle line:84% known all over the country as one of our finest poets. 00:12:02.270 --> 00:12:05.510 align:middle line:84% Magazines big and little compete for his poems. 00:12:05.510 --> 00:12:08.150 align:middle line:84% And he has just won the United States award. 00:12:08.150 --> 00:12:12.470 align:middle line:84% Is that the name for his last book? 00:12:12.470 --> 00:12:18.410 align:middle line:84% Well, after Dick, the next person 00:12:18.410 --> 00:12:21.230 align:middle line:84% was when we had to-- who really came and still is 00:12:21.230 --> 00:12:27.470 align:middle line:84% with us working hard was the next year when the university 00:12:27.470 --> 00:12:29.750 align:middle line:90% gave us a director. 00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:37.410 align:middle line:84% And our first director was LaVerne Clark 00:12:37.410 --> 00:12:40.590 align:middle line:90% who is still our photographer. 00:12:40.590 --> 00:12:44.670 align:middle line:84% And has become noted in her own field of folklore. 00:12:44.670 --> 00:12:47.280 align:middle line:84% Well, there are two other people here 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:50.310 align:middle line:84% that have been important parts of the Center 00:12:50.310 --> 00:12:51.420 align:middle line:90% and have returned. 00:12:51.420 --> 00:12:55.170 align:middle line:84% One was a teacher who became a poet, 00:12:55.170 --> 00:12:58.890 align:middle line:84% well, very well known who has spoken here, 00:12:58.890 --> 00:12:59.955 align:middle line:90% and that's Keith Wilson. 00:12:59.955 --> 00:13:06.820 align:middle line:90% 00:13:06.820 --> 00:13:10.000 align:middle line:84% who flew over for this celebration. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.930 align:middle line:84% And then if he has come to the reading as he promised, 00:13:13.930 --> 00:13:17.200 align:middle line:84% I think a young man you should see 00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:22.840 align:middle line:84% because he was the first student in this university. 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:26.320 align:middle line:84% And you know how many students now go to the Poetry Center. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:28.240 align:middle line:84% But this was the first student who 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:33.550 align:middle line:84% had the courage to walk alone to the poet's house 00:13:33.550 --> 00:13:34.600 align:middle line:90% to meet the poet. 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:37.510 align:middle line:84% And I was the guinea pig poet before anybody else 00:13:37.510 --> 00:13:38.530 align:middle line:90% was invited. 00:13:38.530 --> 00:13:41.560 align:middle line:84% They had to see what would happen if they 00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:43.090 align:middle line:90% asked the students to come. 00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:49.780 align:middle line:84% So this young man, who no one knew wrote poetry, 00:13:49.780 --> 00:13:53.260 align:middle line:84% answered this kind of posters, I don't 00:13:53.260 --> 00:13:56.770 align:middle line:84% know what they put around, and he came to the house 00:13:56.770 --> 00:14:00.100 align:middle line:84% and he met me and we talked about poetry. 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:02.320 align:middle line:84% And he then-- Peter, are you here? 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:05.770 align:middle line:90% Peter Andros, did he come? 00:14:05.770 --> 00:14:07.300 align:middle line:90% Oh, he won't stand up. 00:14:07.300 --> 00:14:13.522 align:middle line:84% He called yesterday and said he was going to come, where is he? 00:14:13.522 --> 00:14:18.460 align:middle line:84% He wrote the first poem that was written because of the Poetry 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:23.920 align:middle line:84% Center by a student and I gave it to the university, 00:14:23.920 --> 00:14:25.780 align:middle line:84% and he said it was in my honor, it 00:14:25.780 --> 00:14:28.060 align:middle line:84% was called "The Indian at the Supermarket." 00:14:28.060 --> 00:14:32.050 align:middle line:90% 00:14:32.050 --> 00:14:35.170 align:middle line:84% Now the Poetry Center, I don't know if all of you know, 00:14:35.170 --> 00:14:36.970 align:middle line:90% had a child. 00:14:36.970 --> 00:14:41.740 align:middle line:84% About six years ago, we had started another small poetry 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:45.710 align:middle line:84% center at the University of Texas. 00:14:45.710 --> 00:14:49.460 align:middle line:84% And Richard Shelton, the director at that time 00:14:49.460 --> 00:14:51.620 align:middle line:90% flew over and blessed the child. 00:14:51.620 --> 00:14:54.560 align:middle line:84% So they have sent back, I understand, a young man to help 00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:58.250 align:middle line:90% us, that is Mr Patterson. 00:14:58.250 --> 00:14:59.045 align:middle line:90% This is our child. 00:14:59.045 --> 00:15:02.220 align:middle line:90% 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:06.300 align:middle line:84% Now, Mr Patterson represents a legitimate child. 00:15:06.300 --> 00:15:08.460 align:middle line:84% I have now heard that there are all kinds 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:10.470 align:middle line:84% of illegitimate children springing 00:15:10.470 --> 00:15:12.120 align:middle line:84% out all over Arizona, that there's 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.800 align:middle line:90% no birth control in poetry. 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:22.290 align:middle line:84% So the poets have written many letters and telegrams. 00:15:22.290 --> 00:15:25.650 align:middle line:84% They too have been part, great poets. 00:15:25.650 --> 00:15:28.260 align:middle line:84% As you know, you've heard them, poets 00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:33.420 align:middle line:84% from all over this country, Canada, and even 00:15:33.420 --> 00:15:37.980 align:middle line:84% to the present poet, laureate of England Cecil Day-Lewis 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:42.090 align:middle line:84% who came here before he was appointed poet laureate, 00:15:42.090 --> 00:15:43.660 align:middle line:84% has written a handwritten letter. 00:15:43.660 --> 00:15:51.170 align:middle line:84% I have a stack of these laudations for the Center 00:15:51.170 --> 00:15:54.560 align:middle line:90% today and our celebration. 00:15:54.560 --> 00:15:57.380 align:middle line:84% They have loved the idea from the beginning. 00:15:57.380 --> 00:16:01.520 align:middle line:84% And of course, we couldn't have grown as we did without them. 00:16:01.520 --> 00:16:05.090 align:middle line:84% Now there's just one more and that's all of you. 00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:07.520 align:middle line:84% What the poets have said is that they 00:16:07.520 --> 00:16:11.000 align:middle line:84% find the greatest audiences in America 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.790 align:middle line:90% here, the most responsive. 00:16:13.790 --> 00:16:18.320 align:middle line:84% And Walt Whitman has said that great audiences 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:19.940 align:middle line:90% make great poets. 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:22.610 align:middle line:90% So I thank you. 00:16:22.610 --> 00:16:23.840 align:middle line:90% I'll clap for you. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.700 align:middle line:90% 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:34.190 align:middle line:84% Now I'm going to ask you to forget the Poetry Center. 00:16:34.190 --> 00:16:37.790 align:middle line:84% I'm going to ask you to forget that I had 00:16:37.790 --> 00:16:41.450 align:middle line:90% or have anything to do with it. 00:16:41.450 --> 00:16:42.200 align:middle line:90% I am a poet. 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:45.390 align:middle line:90% 00:16:45.390 --> 00:16:51.690 align:middle line:84% Now we have to go into the universe, you and I, 00:16:51.690 --> 00:16:57.626 align:middle line:84% with what I have to say about it, together. 00:16:57.626 --> 00:17:00.160 align:middle line:90% Here's the universe. 00:17:00.160 --> 00:17:12.098 align:middle line:90%