[APPLAUSE]
Thank you, Cybele.
I'm so excited for tonight's reading
and for the chance to introduce tonight's three rock
stars, Samuel Ace, Polly Rosenwaike-- there you are--
and Dexter L. Booth.
For those of you who've been to the Poetry Center--
who've been to a reading before here at the Poetry Center,
I think you'll agree that it's a great opportunity
to hear poetry and to hear prose read
by amazing local, national, and international talent.
And these readings, these readers
are presented as poets, as writers,
and we listen to their poems, their writing.
But in addition to connecting to these poets and writers
through their work, through their presentations
and performances here tonight, I hope
that you'll also connect to them as people, because they
are indeed human, even though I heard
that Dexter likes to dress up like a robot
for costume parties.
So I did a little bit of Facebook investigation.
Dexter.
Dexter L. Booth lives just a stone's throw
away in Tempe, Arizona, where he teaches poetry
and English composition at ASU.
His debut collection Scratching the Ghost,
which won the 2012 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, like Cybele said,
is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in November 2013.
And we have a mailing list, like Cybele was saying,
set up at this table.
And at that table you can include your email address as
well as your physical address.
And he will send you an email on a listserv, and at that time
you can order his book, I believe, on Amazon.
And there's a PayPal account set up for you.
And Dexter has even agreed to send this book directly
to your house, and he will sign his name
and sign a personal note for you.
So that's very sweet.
So you should definitely sign up for the mailing list.
Yeah, so I'd encourage you all to chat with our readers
tonight and to get to know them and to realize
what gems they are to Tucson, to Arizona, and to the larger
national and international writing community.
So the way the reading will work tonight
is that we'll have Samuel read first, followed by Polly,
and then followed by Dexter.
So please join me in welcoming Polly Rosenwaike, Dexter L.
Booth, and tonight's first reader, Samuel Ace.