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Good evening.

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I'm Alison Deming, director
of the Poetry Center.

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I'd like to make a
few announcements

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before tonight's event.

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First of all, Among
Other Things is

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sponsoring their first annual
poetry and fiction contest.

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They're wanting
submissions by November 1.

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And they're actually
giving cold hard cash.

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Well, cold hard checks as
awards, $150 in prize money.

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They'll be giving out
materials after the readings

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about the stipulations
of submissions.

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They do say that they encourage
but do not require that entries

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challenge the issue
of content restriction

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as established by the NEA.

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But that the works
have literary merit.

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You can receive more details
on their contest guidelines

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after the reading.

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Also after the reading,
there will be refreshments

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and there will be copies of
John Ashbery's April Galleons,

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Self-portrait in
a Convex Mirror,

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and Selected Poems for sale,
and there's a 10% discount

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for faculty and students.

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The books won't last long
but there are a few copies.

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I'd just like to ask
people who are coming in

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if you'd keep the aisles open.

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Just spread yourselves along
the edges as best you can.

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Thanks.

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Tonight, we are indeed fortunate
to have John Ashbery with us.

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He's been acclaimed as the great
original of his generation.

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And the sphere of his
influence on other poets

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touches by now several
subsequent generations.

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His first book Some Trees
was selected by W.H. Auden

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for the Yale series
of younger poets.

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In 1975, Self-portrait
in a Convex Mirror

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won the Pulitzer Prize,
the National Book Award,

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and the National Book
Critics Circle Award.

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He's twice received Guggenheim
fellowships in 1985,

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received the MacArthur, to
name a few of his distinctions.

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His most recent publications
are Selected Poems in 1985

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and his 12th volume
April Galleons in 1987.

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We're looking forward to
the forthcoming book--

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why have I lost the title of
the new book Flow Chart, which

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has been in my mind all day.

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Is such a wonderful
title, it flew through.

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The forthcoming book
of poetry Flow Chart,

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which is a book length poem
which will be published

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by Knopf in the spring.

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In addition to his
work as a poet,

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he's published extensively
in art criticism,

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as well as publishing
a novel and some plays.

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John Malcolm Brinnin
said about his work,

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John Ashbery's dazzling
orchestrations of language

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open up whole areas
of consciousness

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no other American poet
has even begun to explore.

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Please welcome, John Ashbery.

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[APPLAUSE]

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