Hello, everyone.
Welcome to the Poetry Center.
We're glad you're here.
And we're also glad that you braved the rain
or whatever weather circumstances you
had to deal with to get here.
Allen arranged to have the sun totally come out after noon
today, so you win if he wins.
And so he said a mostly rainy Arizona,
which is relatively atypical let's say for this time of year
and so we're excited to show him some sunshine
which he will get for the next few days.
So thank you all for being here for Tucson to come.
I just have some quick notes to say
and I'll introduce our introducer tonight
and then we'll move on into the presentation.
And to introduce Allen, I'm going to just quickly orient
you to my friend Russ Kick who will
introduce Allen more properly.
Russ Kick among many other books is the editor
of the three volume 1600 page set called The Graphic
Canon: The World's Great Literature
as Comics and Visuals.
More recently Kick has edited The Graphic Canon
of Children's Literature, as well as the collection Death
Poems: Classic, Contemporary, Witty, Serious, Tear-Jerking,
Wise, Profound, Angry, Funny, Spiritual, aesthetic, sorry,
Atheistic not aesthetic, Uncertain, Personal, Political,
Mythic--
It would be interesting if it was
aesthetic, but troublesome--
Political, Mythic, Earthy, and Only Occasionally Morbid.
An entire collection dedicated to poems that deal
with the topic of the deceased, an anthology of poetry
about the only other certain thing
for all of us besides taxes.
Russ personally told me at dinner tonight
that he has no intention of ever making
an anthology about taxes.
This is the only certain anthology that will ever exist.
Please help me welcome Russ who will introduce Allen.
Thanks everyone, for being here.
[APPLAUSE]