WEBVTT

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Our next reader, two weeks from
tonight in this auditorium,

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will be Richard Wilbur.

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Please come to
the terrace lounge

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in the Student Union
following tonight's reading

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to meet Mr. Wright.

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The University's
been corresponding

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with James Wright for
about eight years,

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trying to get him
to come and visit.

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I am happy that he waited
until this year to come.

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It's a great pleasure
for me to introduce

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one of the most distinguished
gentlemen in American letters--

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James Wright.

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[APPLAUSE]

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I already pulled this one this
afternoon, but can you hear me?

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It's the most stupid
question that I

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suppose one can
ask of an audience,

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because if you can't hear
me, then you don't even

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know what question I've asked.

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[LAUGHTER]

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My wife, Annie, and I would
like to say to all of you

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that we are very grateful
that you invited us,

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and we've been treated
with wonderful kindness

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and intelligence.

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[LAUGHTER]

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It's true, and we're
grateful for that.

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We like to go around
sometimes together

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and find our way
as well as we can.

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People have helped us and
brought some very serious

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beauty into our lives by
inviting us here and welcoming

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us.

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And we're very grateful.

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This evening I would like
to make two requests of you.

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First, I would like to ask
that you be patient with me

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while I flop around some of the
proofs of my new book, which

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is going to be published in--

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well, at the end of March.

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And let's all rush out
together and buy it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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No, I mean, but
I ask your pardon

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if I do a little flopping
around with the proofs,

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because my editor wasn't able
to get adequate proofs to me

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before we took off.

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I worked on them
for a long time.

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I write very slowly, and
I keep revising things.

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I can't help it.

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I think I have all
the poems in order.

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The second request
I have to make

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is that you be patient with me
while I flop the proofs around.

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I wanted to begin this evening
by reading a whole set of poems

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which, in a way, are
new, because not very

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many of the poems
in my new book have

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been published in magazines.

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A few of them have come out
during the last two years

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when I was working on this book.

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And I liked to publish
poems in magazines,

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but I didn't publish
many of these.

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I don't know quite why.

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Maybe I was trying to
understand something.

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It's a peculiar experience.

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