WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.470 align:middle line:84% I don't know what's going to happen 00:00:01.470 --> 00:00:05.640 align:middle line:84% when we both have microphones, it could be really scary. 00:00:05.640 --> 00:00:07.980 align:middle line:90% We're going to sing. 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:11.940 align:middle line:84% You could sing along if you know the songs. 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:15.720 align:middle line:90% I stopped teaching in 2006. 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:22.690 align:middle line:84% And being a person who can't leave well enough alone, 00:00:22.690 --> 00:00:25.080 align:middle line:84% I started an imprint with my publisher. 00:00:25.080 --> 00:00:28.050 align:middle line:84% And I wanted to do this work with my publisher 00:00:28.050 --> 00:00:30.600 align:middle line:84% because if you know our publisher, 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:32.850 align:middle line:84% you know that they'll just do about anything. 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:36.570 align:middle line:84% They're completely entrepreneurial maniacs 00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:42.480 align:middle line:84% and wonderful, delightful publishers. 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:46.140 align:middle line:84% I had been judging a lot of poetry competitions. 00:00:46.140 --> 00:00:50.970 align:middle line:84% I'd been reviewing books, but I was never running 00:00:50.970 --> 00:00:53.670 align:middle line:90% into lesbian authors anymore. 00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:55.950 align:middle line:84% Lesbian poetry had kind of gone-- 00:00:55.950 --> 00:00:59.910 align:middle line:90% [VOCALIZES] pretty much was-- 00:00:59.910 --> 00:01:02.860 align:middle line:90% really not much was happening. 00:01:02.860 --> 00:01:04.650 align:middle line:84% And so just to check it, because I didn't 00:01:04.650 --> 00:01:08.580 align:middle line:84% want to feel like, oh, I'm probably a nitwit 00:01:08.580 --> 00:01:10.080 align:middle line:90% and it's all I think about-- 00:01:10.080 --> 00:01:12.270 align:middle line:84% lesbian poets, what's happening to them. 00:01:12.270 --> 00:01:16.020 align:middle line:84% I asked the editor of the Los Angeles Times 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:18.960 align:middle line:84% and he said, yeah, we just don't get much. 00:01:18.960 --> 00:01:21.340 align:middle line:84% So I know how to account for that. 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:25.590 align:middle line:84% If you remember, there used to be bookstores. 00:01:25.590 --> 00:01:27.150 align:middle line:90% Do you remember that? 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:29.550 align:middle line:84% We had places you could go and buy a book 00:01:29.550 --> 00:01:32.790 align:middle line:84% and look at other books that you weren't buying? 00:01:32.790 --> 00:01:36.150 align:middle line:84% They're also used to be a lot of women's bookstores 00:01:36.150 --> 00:01:38.040 align:middle line:90% and independent bookstores. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:44.250 align:middle line:84% And many people really came up as poets through that channel. 00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:47.340 align:middle line:84% Women's cultural centers, for example, 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:48.780 align:middle line:90% lesbian cultural centers. 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:52.800 align:middle line:84% And a lot of people got their start in this small fashion 00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:56.290 align:middle line:84% and then became authors of books. 00:01:56.290 --> 00:01:58.780 align:middle line:90% And that was dying. 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:03.150 align:middle line:84% So I felt what I really wanted to know 00:02:03.150 --> 00:02:06.000 align:middle line:84% was not so much coming out stories anymore 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.280 align:middle line:84% because I thought there were a lot of those, what 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:11.940 align:middle line:84% I wanted to know was, what is it like for people 00:02:11.940 --> 00:02:14.955 align:middle line:90% to be living out? 00:02:14.955 --> 00:02:19.020 align:middle line:84% All of you know what we look like now. 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:21.570 align:middle line:90% Not so bad, huh? 00:02:21.570 --> 00:02:24.690 align:middle line:84% But I just thought what we need is 00:02:24.690 --> 00:02:30.190 align:middle line:84% to move up to the next level of literary production. 00:02:30.190 --> 00:02:34.080 align:middle line:84% And to bring that work into the culture 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:36.030 align:middle line:84% so that we could continue and enlarge 00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:39.370 align:middle line:84% upon the conversation of who we all are to each other. 00:02:39.370 --> 00:02:44.520 align:middle line:84% So I started in 2006 and now I'm going to be working soon 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.950 align:middle line:90% on my eighth book. 00:02:46.950 --> 00:02:50.070 align:middle line:90% I do one book a year of poetry. 00:02:50.070 --> 00:02:52.860 align:middle line:84% Nonfiction and fiction, I go on a cycle. 00:02:52.860 --> 00:02:57.090 align:middle line:84% And you can go to the website and download a free sample. 00:02:57.090 --> 00:02:59.760 align:middle line:90% It's Arktoi.com. 00:02:59.760 --> 00:03:02.610 align:middle line:90% A-R-K T-O-I dot com. 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:06.210 align:middle line:84% Arktoi means little bears and the goddess Artemis 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:08.220 align:middle line:90% had a temple outside of Athens. 00:03:08.220 --> 00:03:12.900 align:middle line:84% And girls who were 9 or 10 went and were in service 00:03:12.900 --> 00:03:14.310 align:middle line:90% to the goddess of the temple. 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:16.710 align:middle line:84% And once a year or once every two years, 00:03:16.710 --> 00:03:19.080 align:middle line:84% they would dress up like bears and go out and live 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:20.820 align:middle line:90% in the woods for two years-- 00:03:20.820 --> 00:03:21.780 align:middle line:90% I mean, two weeks. 00:03:21.780 --> 00:03:25.930 align:middle line:84% The first outward bound was with these little arktoi. 00:03:25.930 --> 00:03:29.160 align:middle line:84% So now I have eight little arktoi of my own. 00:03:29.160 --> 00:03:31.570 align:middle line:90% And it's been really wonderful. 00:03:31.570 --> 00:03:33.220 align:middle line:90% It's really great. 00:03:33.220 --> 00:03:34.950 align:middle line:90% So that's how it happened. 00:03:34.950 --> 00:03:37.720 align:middle line:84% And my imprint Boreal Books happened 00:03:37.720 --> 00:03:39.600 align:middle line:90% because we have a great many-- 00:03:39.600 --> 00:03:41.655 align:middle line:90% very fine writers in Alaska. 00:03:41.655 --> 00:03:44.220 align:middle line:90% 00:03:44.220 --> 00:03:47.610 align:middle line:84% Interior Alaska is not on the way to most places. 00:03:47.610 --> 00:03:53.940 align:middle line:84% And there are often very large gatherings of literary types 00:03:53.940 --> 00:03:56.130 align:middle line:90% that don't happen in Alaska. 00:03:56.130 --> 00:03:59.130 align:middle line:84% And I thought that I should do whatever I could 00:03:59.130 --> 00:04:01.020 align:middle line:90% to help those voices get heard. 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:02.710 align:middle line:84% And as I mentioned to you before, 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:05.280 align:middle line:84% there are several examples of what I've chosen. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:08.070 align:middle line:84% Red Hen does just a beautiful job on the design. 00:04:08.070 --> 00:04:12.390 align:middle line:84% Some of those were designed by the University of Alaska Press, 00:04:12.390 --> 00:04:16.170 align:middle line:84% but I'm doing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:17.790 align:middle line:84% And I hope that you'll pay attention 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:22.019 align:middle line:84% to those voices from Alaska because they deserve a wider 00:04:22.019 --> 00:04:23.810 align:middle line:84% readership than they've been getting. 00:04:23.810 --> 00:04:24.990 align:middle line:90% And art, and art. 00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:26.280 align:middle line:90% And art, yeah. 00:04:26.280 --> 00:04:28.650 align:middle line:84% The second one that I did for Boreal Books 00:04:28.650 --> 00:04:30.570 align:middle line:90% features the art of Margo Klass. 00:04:30.570 --> 00:04:33.090 align:middle line:84% She does exquisite box constructions. 00:04:33.090 --> 00:04:35.280 align:middle line:84% And then her husband, Frank Soos, 00:04:35.280 --> 00:04:37.950 align:middle line:84% does very brief pieces of prose in response, 00:04:37.950 --> 00:04:39.660 align:middle line:84% and it makes a very interesting book. 00:04:39.660 --> 00:04:41.830 align:middle line:90% And they did a beautiful job. 00:04:41.830 --> 00:04:44.790 align:middle line:84% So I'm sorry that I can't accept manuscripts from all of you, 00:04:44.790 --> 00:04:46.530 align:middle line:84% but you have to either have some-- 00:04:46.530 --> 00:04:48.270 align:middle line:84% the manuscript to have some connection 00:04:48.270 --> 00:04:53.000 align:middle line:84% to Alaska or the person has to live in Alaska. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:54.280 align:middle line:90% That's that. 00:04:54.280 --> 00:04:55.420 align:middle line:90% What else is on your mind? 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:03.540 align:middle line:90% 00:05:03.540 --> 00:05:05.670 align:middle line:90% This is a question for Eloise. 00:05:05.670 --> 00:05:09.180 align:middle line:84% First of all, I just want to say thank you for writing. 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:11.160 align:middle line:84% I'm a teacher and for three years, 00:05:11.160 --> 00:05:15.810 align:middle line:84% I've taught your poem "Changing What We Mean" for sophomores. 00:05:15.810 --> 00:05:17.910 align:middle line:84% And it's offered a space for students, 00:05:17.910 --> 00:05:20.880 align:middle line:84% after I've taught the poem, to come out to me 00:05:20.880 --> 00:05:24.318 align:middle line:84% or have some kind of conversation like that. 00:05:24.318 --> 00:05:26.110 align:middle line:84% And I just want to thank you, first of all, 00:05:26.110 --> 00:05:29.640 align:middle line:84% for enabling me to create that space in the classroom. 00:05:29.640 --> 00:05:30.820 align:middle line:90% Thanks. 00:05:30.820 --> 00:05:32.670 align:middle line:90% Second of all, the question-- 00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:34.920 align:middle line:84% a lot of students are struck by that poem 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:39.630 align:middle line:84% because it is focused on a particular way of life 00:05:39.630 --> 00:05:43.230 align:middle line:84% that not all of my students envisioned or imagined 00:05:43.230 --> 00:05:46.170 align:middle line:84% for themselves, and yet the themes that they get 00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:48.540 align:middle line:90% from the poem are universal. 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:52.650 align:middle line:84% And I'm wondering how you go from a place centered in the I 00:05:52.650 --> 00:05:55.620 align:middle line:84% to a place centered in the we and creating 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:57.900 align:middle line:84% a universal experience out of what 00:05:57.900 --> 00:06:01.470 align:middle line:84% I assume is a personal experience 00:06:01.470 --> 00:06:05.490 align:middle line:84% from the original part of the poem. 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:12.216 align:middle line:84% We were talking about this today in a class that met up there-- 00:06:12.216 --> 00:06:13.500 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] somewhere there. 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:18.120 align:middle line:90% 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.340 align:middle line:90% I think every I is a we. 00:06:20.340 --> 00:06:23.070 align:middle line:90% 00:06:23.070 --> 00:06:28.050 align:middle line:84% You are never an I, just an I. Even Gertrude Stein said, 00:06:28.050 --> 00:06:32.940 align:middle line:84% I am I because my little dog loves me. 00:06:32.940 --> 00:06:36.400 align:middle line:84% And I would extrapolate that out to say, 00:06:36.400 --> 00:06:40.200 align:middle line:84% we are each and I because other people 00:06:40.200 --> 00:06:42.400 align:middle line:90% have helped us shape ourselves. 00:06:42.400 --> 00:06:45.670 align:middle line:90% 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:52.420 align:middle line:84% So if my experience, as it comes through a poem, 00:06:52.420 --> 00:06:54.340 align:middle line:84% can be picked up by other people, 00:06:54.340 --> 00:06:58.360 align:middle line:84% even if they aren't like me, what that all really means 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:02.590 align:middle line:90% is it's a we experience. 00:07:02.590 --> 00:07:04.870 align:middle line:84% Everybody loves somebody, everybody 00:07:04.870 --> 00:07:11.560 align:middle line:84% gets disappointed by somebody, everybody wonders why 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:14.530 align:middle line:84% bad things happen to them when somebody they cared so much 00:07:14.530 --> 00:07:16.270 align:middle line:90% about leaves them. 00:07:16.270 --> 00:07:19.060 align:middle line:90% 00:07:19.060 --> 00:07:25.370 align:middle line:84% That isn't just the territory of heterosexuals or homosexuals. 00:07:25.370 --> 00:07:28.520 align:middle line:84% That's just the territory of human beings. 00:07:28.520 --> 00:07:32.920 align:middle line:84% And so, yes, one thing is important. 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:35.830 align:middle line:84% It is a specific kind of poem about a specific person's 00:07:35.830 --> 00:07:41.890 align:middle line:84% experience in a culture that may not be the one you grew up in. 00:07:41.890 --> 00:07:43.810 align:middle line:84% I'm going to make a parentheses here. 00:07:43.810 --> 00:07:46.210 align:middle line:84% You say something about surprise-- 00:07:46.210 --> 00:07:49.600 align:middle line:84% I was as surprised as anybody and maybe more when I came out. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.010 align:middle line:84% It's like, what the hell is this? 00:07:51.010 --> 00:07:54.720 align:middle line:84% I was student body president twice. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.550 align:middle line:90% How is this happening to me? 00:07:57.550 --> 00:08:05.790 align:middle line:84% But they are responding to something that they know 00:08:05.790 --> 00:08:08.490 align:middle line:84% and I think that's what happens through art. 00:08:08.490 --> 00:08:18.630 align:middle line:84% We both can be pulled in and bring something in, ourselves. 00:08:18.630 --> 00:08:22.020 align:middle line:84% And often, the most deeply personal poem 00:08:22.020 --> 00:08:23.520 align:middle line:90% reaches the most people. 00:08:23.520 --> 00:08:25.980 align:middle line:90% It's a paradox. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:29.840 align:middle line:90% Thank you [INAUDIBLE]. 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:34.669 align:middle line:84% I know you're out there harboring secret questions. 00:08:34.669 --> 00:08:35.510 align:middle line:90% Don't be shy. 00:08:35.510 --> 00:08:41.459 align:middle line:90% 00:08:41.459 --> 00:08:41.959 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:08:41.959 --> 00:08:44.210 align:middle line:84% Eloise, I just graduated from the university 00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:46.796 align:middle line:84% you started [INAUDIBLE] so thanks for starting that. 00:08:46.796 --> 00:08:48.530 align:middle line:90% Oh, thank you. 00:08:48.530 --> 00:08:52.070 align:middle line:84% I wanted to check on following up with his question 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:55.190 align:middle line:84% about the classroom of how you hope poetry will be used 00:08:55.190 --> 00:08:56.600 align:middle line:90% in the classroom or not used. 00:08:56.600 --> 00:08:59.778 align:middle line:84% When you think of your own work, have you 00:08:59.778 --> 00:09:01.820 align:middle line:84% heard of it being used in ways that you celebrate 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:02.990 align:middle line:90% or ways that trouble you? 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:08.460 align:middle line:90% 00:09:08.460 --> 00:09:09.425 align:middle line:90% Shall I start? 00:09:09.425 --> 00:09:11.550 align:middle line:84% I never get troubled if someone buys my book. 00:09:11.550 --> 00:09:14.340 align:middle line:84% She says "I never get troubled of someone buys my book." 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:17.142 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:09:17.142 --> 00:09:19.710 align:middle line:90% 00:09:19.710 --> 00:09:24.930 align:middle line:84% I think both of us should answer that question because we 00:09:24.930 --> 00:09:31.230 align:middle line:84% each have a lot of experience in classrooms and have, 00:09:31.230 --> 00:09:34.170 align:middle line:84% both of us, been designated as people who are 00:09:34.170 --> 00:09:36.840 align:middle line:90% supposed to be official poets. 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:39.430 align:middle line:84% And that means we have to go around and do stuff. 00:09:39.430 --> 00:09:40.870 align:middle line:90% So, yeah. 00:09:40.870 --> 00:09:41.370 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:09:41.370 --> 00:09:45.210 align:middle line:84% I'll just say I am very enthusiastic whenever anybody 00:09:45.210 --> 00:09:47.100 align:middle line:90% pays attention to poetry. 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:52.830 align:middle line:84% I am deeply excited when people find ways to match language 00:09:52.830 --> 00:09:54.930 align:middle line:90% to what matters most to them. 00:09:54.930 --> 00:09:56.970 align:middle line:84% And it happens when people write, 00:09:56.970 --> 00:10:00.900 align:middle line:84% it happens when people read, it happens when students recite 00:10:00.900 --> 00:10:03.870 align:middle line:84% out loud, it happens when people allow language 00:10:03.870 --> 00:10:05.470 align:middle line:90% to matter to them. 00:10:05.470 --> 00:10:09.790 align:middle line:84% And I think that enriches everybody who allows it. 00:10:09.790 --> 00:10:16.090 align:middle line:84% I would hope that the way poetry is taught, particularly 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:18.890 align:middle line:84% in high school, could change quite a bit, 00:10:18.890 --> 00:10:21.310 align:middle line:84% that it be taught more like music, 00:10:21.310 --> 00:10:24.400 align:middle line:84% that the real goal is to practice something. 00:10:24.400 --> 00:10:27.880 align:middle line:84% And maybe you learn to really play the cello well and maybe 00:10:27.880 --> 00:10:29.920 align:middle line:84% you just learn to make some noise, 00:10:29.920 --> 00:10:37.410 align:middle line:84% but that poetry would stop being viewed as something 00:10:37.410 --> 00:10:39.450 align:middle line:84% that only the elites can possess, 00:10:39.450 --> 00:10:42.060 align:middle line:84% and that if you aren't really the smartest kid in school, 00:10:42.060 --> 00:10:44.340 align:middle line:84% you should just forget about that and leave it alone. 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:47.100 align:middle line:84% Or maybe if you are a scientist-- 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:49.710 align:middle line:84% and we talked about, today, the parallels 00:10:49.710 --> 00:10:55.500 align:middle line:84% between scientific thinking and thinking in and through poems, 00:10:55.500 --> 00:11:02.370 align:middle line:84% but that more people would allow students to experience the poem 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:05.720 align:middle line:84% and not have to have an answer about the poem. 00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:09.730 align:middle line:84% There are also lifelong opportunities for this 00:11:09.730 --> 00:11:11.320 align:middle line:90% to happen. 00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:13.270 align:middle line:84% I'm thinking when I was a poet in schools. 00:11:13.270 --> 00:11:16.000 align:middle line:84% And one day, we read a poem that mattered to a little boy 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.880 align:middle line:84% and he said, oh, I didn't know poetry had anything 00:11:18.880 --> 00:11:20.670 align:middle line:90% to do with real life. 00:11:20.670 --> 00:11:23.020 align:middle line:84% And that was a revelation to him. 00:11:23.020 --> 00:11:27.430 align:middle line:84% There are also people I teach in a two-week summer fine arts 00:11:27.430 --> 00:11:30.220 align:middle line:84% festival in Fairbanks, Alaska-- the last weeks of July. 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:33.940 align:middle line:84% If you want to get out of the heat, come to Fairbanks. 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:38.050 align:middle line:84% And there are people there from teenagers to people who are-- 00:11:38.050 --> 00:11:40.510 align:middle line:84% well, one man was alive when Roosevelt was president-- 00:11:40.510 --> 00:11:42.370 align:middle line:90% gives you an idea of the span. 00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:44.560 align:middle line:84% And they range from people who've 00:11:44.560 --> 00:11:46.480 align:middle line:84% had no experience with writing and are 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.060 align:middle line:84% taking the very first baby steps to people 00:11:49.060 --> 00:11:50.860 align:middle line:90% have already published books. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:54.310 align:middle line:84% It is a terrific chance to just sit and, as you were saying, 00:11:54.310 --> 00:11:55.150 align:middle line:90% practice. 00:11:55.150 --> 00:11:57.292 align:middle line:90% See what comes and play. 00:11:57.292 --> 00:11:58.750 align:middle line:84% And if you want to know how it is-- 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:01.990 align:middle line:84% Anita, I'm going to pick on you, but stand up. 00:12:01.990 --> 00:12:04.240 align:middle line:84% She's been there several years and you can just 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:05.590 align:middle line:90% see that she's still breathing. 00:12:05.590 --> 00:12:07.270 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:07.270 --> 00:12:08.110 align:middle line:90% 00:12:08.110 --> 00:12:09.220 align:middle line:90% But it's great fun. 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:10.180 align:middle line:90% It's terrific fun. 00:12:10.180 --> 00:12:12.850 align:middle line:90% And Deb Liggett, where are you? 00:12:12.850 --> 00:12:16.220 align:middle line:84% Over here, another Alaskan who has been up there many times. 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:19.120 align:middle line:84% So if you are wanting to practice your craft, 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:20.800 align:middle line:84% if you're wanting to try something new, 00:12:20.800 --> 00:12:24.010 align:middle line:84% if you're wanting to try to do something difficult for you, 00:12:24.010 --> 00:12:28.600 align:middle line:84% find a place in your community-- look, you have this-- 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:32.440 align:middle line:84% and you have the opportunity to practice something that will 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:33.790 align:middle line:90% continue for your whole life. 00:12:33.790 --> 00:12:36.730 align:middle line:84% We're lucky we're not like Greg Louganis. 00:12:36.730 --> 00:12:40.510 align:middle line:84% We don't have a craft that is only for a young person, 00:12:40.510 --> 00:12:43.450 align:middle line:84% we have a craft that goes through our entire lives. 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:46.370 align:middle line:90% 00:12:46.370 --> 00:12:50.480 align:middle line:84% You cannot know how lucky you are to have this amazing place. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:53.750 align:middle line:84% Usually, poetry stuff, it's somebody's basement. 00:12:53.750 --> 00:12:56.795 align:middle line:84% They picked up a table at the yard sale 00:12:56.795 --> 00:13:01.580 align:middle line:84% and sprayed it with glitter paint and a couple 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:04.370 align:middle line:84% of big old, ugly pillows from the '60s 00:13:04.370 --> 00:13:06.710 align:middle line:84% and there you've got the poetry workshop. 00:13:06.710 --> 00:13:12.530 align:middle line:84% So this is an amazing edifice and-- 00:13:12.530 --> 00:13:14.480 align:middle line:84% Gail certainly gets a lot of things for that, 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:15.760 align:middle line:90% and so does Alison. 00:13:15.760 --> 00:13:20.270 align:middle line:84% And you owe these people a tremendous debt of gratitude 00:13:20.270 --> 00:13:23.780 align:middle line:84% because I only know of two places like this 00:13:23.780 --> 00:13:27.650 align:middle line:84% and the entire country, in New York, Poet's House, and here. 00:13:27.650 --> 00:13:29.300 align:middle line:90% So it's fabulous. 00:13:29.300 --> 00:13:32.930 align:middle line:84% And there are a lot of offerings. 00:13:32.930 --> 00:13:37.760 align:middle line:84% But also, you can begin to read a little bit more poetry 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:43.530 align:middle line:84% and recite it, sing it, dance to it, 00:13:43.530 --> 00:13:45.650 align:middle line:84% however you like to experience something that's 00:13:45.650 --> 00:13:47.570 align:middle line:90% got a little rhythm in it. 00:13:47.570 --> 00:13:49.010 align:middle line:90% That's a fun thing to do too. 00:13:49.010 --> 00:13:52.738 align:middle line:90% 00:13:52.738 --> 00:13:54.530 align:middle line:84% I think we have time for one more question. 00:13:54.530 --> 00:13:57.390 align:middle line:90% 00:13:57.390 --> 00:13:58.150 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:13:58.150 --> 00:14:02.700 align:middle line:90% 00:14:02.700 --> 00:14:06.685 align:middle line:84% I especially enjoyed understanding 00:14:06.685 --> 00:14:07.560 align:middle line:90% what you were saying. 00:14:07.560 --> 00:14:10.630 align:middle line:84% I have a hearing loss but that's not the real issue, 00:14:10.630 --> 00:14:13.770 align:middle line:84% the real issue is putting over the poem 00:14:13.770 --> 00:14:17.160 align:middle line:84% and sharing it in a way that is a performance 00:14:17.160 --> 00:14:20.670 align:middle line:90% and not just reading your words. 00:14:20.670 --> 00:14:23.910 align:middle line:84% And I was hoping that this would somehow 00:14:23.910 --> 00:14:30.210 align:middle line:84% come up and be a very, very important aspect of poetry, 00:14:30.210 --> 00:14:34.320 align:middle line:84% that is, it has to be put across and not just recite it. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:38.640 align:middle line:84% So I just am saying that as a wish that 00:14:38.640 --> 00:14:42.210 align:middle line:84% every poet, when they get up before a microphone, 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:47.820 align:middle line:84% that they produce a performance so that the audience is moved 00:14:47.820 --> 00:14:52.560 align:middle line:84% not just by the words but by the whole aspect of sharing 00:14:52.560 --> 00:14:55.890 align:middle line:90% something from your guts. 00:14:55.890 --> 00:15:00.010 align:middle line:84% So I'm just grateful that you two fit in that category. 00:15:00.010 --> 00:15:01.290 align:middle line:90% And I thank you. 00:15:01.290 --> 00:15:02.287 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:15:02.287 --> 00:15:04.235 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:15:04.235 --> 00:15:08.620 align:middle line:90% 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:09.520 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:15:09.520 --> 00:15:11.530 align:middle line:90% That's nice. 00:15:11.530 --> 00:15:14.560 align:middle line:84% That's why that book has those readings in it, 00:15:14.560 --> 00:15:17.620 align:middle line:90% so that you can take me home. 00:15:17.620 --> 00:15:20.440 align:middle line:90% 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:23.460 align:middle line:90% And Peggy will go along. 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:24.430 align:middle line:90% [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:15:24.430 --> 00:15:26.320 align:middle line:90% I like to have-- 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:29.320 align:middle line:84% when I hear a reading, I like to take the poet's voice with me. 00:15:29.320 --> 00:15:31.780 align:middle line:84% And so Eloise has a way you can do it literally. 00:15:31.780 --> 00:15:34.030 align:middle line:84% But in most cases, I just like to be 00:15:34.030 --> 00:15:36.040 align:middle line:84% able to hear the cadences of the poet 00:15:36.040 --> 00:15:37.930 align:middle line:84% when I'm reading a person's work. 00:15:37.930 --> 00:15:41.630 align:middle line:84% And it's a gift because you have Voca And online, you have many, 00:15:41.630 --> 00:15:45.730 align:middle line:84% many poets' voices that you can hear. 00:15:45.730 --> 00:15:47.290 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much. 00:15:47.290 --> 00:15:50.040 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:15:50.040 --> 00:15:51.000 align:middle line:90%