Thank you very much, Diana.
Can you all hear me?
Yeah.
Yeah?
Thank you for that introduction, Diana.
That was amazing, easily the best one I've ever had.
[LAUGHTER]
Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
So tonight, I'm going to be reading
from the new book, Still Life.
This gives some back story about the book.
On July 12, 2017, I was diagnosed with terminal cancer
and given two years to live.
And I was in the doctor's office getting that news and Kim was
next to me.
And one of the many thoughts that ran through my head
at that moment was--
I really better get to work, because I only
have a certain amount of time, and I
got to get as much done as I possibly could.
So I just went headlong into the book
and began to compose at that moment.
So the first poem I'm going to read tonight
is called "Benediction."
And it's the poem that I wrote while this man was telling me
that I was going to be dead in a couple of years.
"Benediction."
The wind in swells through the wild rye rolls.
The bright sky dulls.
Over the hills, their green backs
ringed with bluebells sunset-run,
flaps a wingy shadow westward.
A jay.
Poor bird that no net met nor gin it didn't love.
Good luck, you luckless scrub, you.
You dumb-- you doomed sucker.
God bless.