WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.650 align:middle line:90% Hey, everybody. 00:00:02.650 --> 00:00:06.960 align:middle line:84% So it falls on me to introduce tonight's activities, 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:11.350 align:middle line:84% and I wrote something down, just because that's always better. 00:00:11.350 --> 00:00:14.700 align:middle line:84% So I'm Matthew Zapruder, as Tyler said, and I'm 00:00:14.700 --> 00:00:16.260 align:middle line:84% an editor at large at Wave Books, 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:19.410 align:middle line:84% and also the director of the Bagley Wright lecture series. 00:00:19.410 --> 00:00:22.260 align:middle line:84% What is the Bagley Wright lecture series, you might ask. 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:24.240 align:middle line:84% It was founded a little over five years 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:26.970 align:middle line:84% ago with the support of Charlie and Barb Wright, who are here 00:00:26.970 --> 00:00:28.110 align:middle line:90% today from Seattle. 00:00:28.110 --> 00:00:30.680 align:middle line:90% 00:00:30.680 --> 00:00:32.500 align:middle line:84% Yeah, we're so glad they made it down. 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:34.420 align:middle line:90% Thank you, all. 00:00:34.420 --> 00:00:36.760 align:middle line:84% Charlie's the publisher of Wave Books, 00:00:36.760 --> 00:00:39.970 align:middle line:84% and the series is named after his late father, Bagley Wright, 00:00:39.970 --> 00:00:43.680 align:middle line:84% a noted philanthropist and supporter of the arts. 00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:46.020 align:middle line:84% Charlie and I conceived of this series as a way 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:48.600 align:middle line:84% to make it possible for leading, midcareer 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.330 align:middle line:84% poets to explore issues of current concern 00:00:51.330 --> 00:00:54.510 align:middle line:84% to them in their poetry, and to present those investigations 00:00:54.510 --> 00:00:56.250 align:middle line:90% publicly as lectures. 00:00:56.250 --> 00:01:00.150 align:middle line:84% You might reasonably ask, why is this a good idea? 00:01:00.150 --> 00:01:02.640 align:middle line:84% Why should we ask poets to do anything other 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:04.050 align:middle line:90% than write poetry? 00:01:04.050 --> 00:01:06.600 align:middle line:84% Isn't their best thinking in their poems, or at least, 00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:07.890 align:middle line:90% shouldn't it be? 00:01:07.890 --> 00:01:11.160 align:middle line:84% And why should we ask them to do it publicly? 00:01:11.160 --> 00:01:15.180 align:middle line:84% By nature, poets are often eager to talk about poems by others, 00:01:15.180 --> 00:01:17.640 align:middle line:84% or about pretty much anything at all. 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.070 align:middle line:84% Yet, when they're asked about their own work, 00:01:20.070 --> 00:01:22.800 align:middle line:90% a strange reticence can descend. 00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:25.350 align:middle line:84% Maybe it's a way of protecting the singularity 00:01:25.350 --> 00:01:28.920 align:middle line:84% of poetic speech, and resisting the idea that it is merely 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.320 align:middle line:84% a way of communicating ideas that 00:01:31.320 --> 00:01:33.870 align:middle line:84% could just as easily, or perhaps even better, 00:01:33.870 --> 00:01:35.730 align:middle line:90% be expressed in prose. 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:37.860 align:middle line:90% Or maybe it's superstition. 00:01:37.860 --> 00:01:41.220 align:middle line:84% One consistent exception I found to this resistance 00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:44.130 align:middle line:84% is when poets are asked by translators of their work 00:01:44.130 --> 00:01:47.610 align:middle line:84% to illuminate what the purpose of something in a poem is. 00:01:47.610 --> 00:01:49.890 align:middle line:84% They can, in that circumstance, become 00:01:49.890 --> 00:01:54.720 align:middle line:84% almost shockingly lucid and rational in their explanations. 00:01:54.720 --> 00:01:57.990 align:middle line:84% Also, it seems there's something about putting poets in front 00:01:57.990 --> 00:02:00.690 align:middle line:84% of an eager, receptive, general audience-- 00:02:00.690 --> 00:02:04.290 align:middle line:84% one not necessarily full exclusively of other poets, 00:02:04.290 --> 00:02:07.110 align:middle line:84% or students of poetry, or academics-- 00:02:07.110 --> 00:02:09.570 align:middle line:84% that brings out something generous in the poet, 00:02:09.570 --> 00:02:12.180 align:middle line:84% and additive to the poetry itself. 00:02:12.180 --> 00:02:15.840 align:middle line:84% When one looks closely into the history of poetry criticism, 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.630 align:middle line:84% it turns out that a great many, I would even 00:02:18.630 --> 00:02:22.140 align:middle line:84% say a preponderance, of the lasting statements we have 00:02:22.140 --> 00:02:24.060 align:middle line:84% about poetry have come from poets 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:26.160 align:middle line:84% who were communicating their thoughts 00:02:26.160 --> 00:02:28.320 align:middle line:90% in the form of public lectures. 00:02:28.320 --> 00:02:31.410 align:middle line:84% We think of these works now as written documents, 00:02:31.410 --> 00:02:34.890 align:middle line:84% but examples of what are now called essays about poetry, 00:02:34.890 --> 00:02:36.720 align:middle line:84% but which began as public lectures, 00:02:36.720 --> 00:02:40.080 align:middle line:84% would include Lorca's lecture on the duende, 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.610 align:middle line:84% most of Wallace Stevens' poetic statements-- 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:44.850 align:middle line:84% including the "Noble Rider and the Sound of Words"-- 00:02:44.850 --> 00:02:48.330 align:middle line:84% TS Eliot's immensely influential literary concepts, 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:51.240 align:middle line:84% the important writings of Audre Lorde collected 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:53.580 align:middle line:84% in Sister Outsider, almost anything 00:02:53.580 --> 00:02:56.370 align:middle line:84% you know that Robert Frost has said was said in a lecture, 00:02:56.370 --> 00:02:59.190 align:middle line:90% and so on, and so on, and so on. 00:02:59.190 --> 00:03:03.510 align:middle line:84% It is also true that, despite what it seems like to us now, 00:03:03.510 --> 00:03:05.490 align:middle line:84% many of these famous poetic statements 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:07.350 align:middle line:84% were given when the poets were not 00:03:07.350 --> 00:03:11.280 align:middle line:84% yet eminences, but relatively early in their poetic careers. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:12.750 align:middle line:84% Not at the beginning, but somewhere 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:15.480 align:middle line:84% in the middle, or maybe the early middle. 00:03:15.480 --> 00:03:18.120 align:middle line:84% So Charlie and I thought it would be good idea 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:20.940 align:middle line:84% to give some of our leading midcareer poets, 00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:23.610 align:middle line:84% people whose poetry and ideas we immensely 00:03:23.610 --> 00:03:26.550 align:middle line:84% respect, the opportunity to give lectures 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:28.920 align:middle line:84% all over the country to different audiences 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:30.750 align:middle line:90% to see what emerged. 00:03:30.750 --> 00:03:33.990 align:middle line:84% It was a kind of experiment, one that I am glad to say 00:03:33.990 --> 00:03:36.090 align:middle line:90% had excellent results. 00:03:36.090 --> 00:03:39.120 align:middle line:84% So far, there have been six Bagley Wright lecturers, 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:42.300 align:middle line:84% and we are incredibly fortunate to have them all here with us 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:44.340 align:middle line:84% for readings and panel discussions 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:45.660 align:middle line:90% over the next several days. 00:03:45.660 --> 00:03:49.590 align:middle line:84% Tonight we will be hearing from three of our lecturers, 00:03:49.590 --> 00:03:50.610 align:middle line:90% in this order. 00:03:50.610 --> 00:03:54.060 align:middle line:84% Dorothea Lasky, Terrance Hayes, and Joshua Beckman. 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:55.890 align:middle line:90% Their careers are distinguished. 00:03:55.890 --> 00:03:58.920 align:middle line:84% I do not wish to take up time with recitations 00:03:58.920 --> 00:04:02.160 align:middle line:84% of their publications, awards, and other accomplishments. 00:04:02.160 --> 00:04:04.290 align:middle line:84% I would just say that they are three of the finest 00:04:04.290 --> 00:04:07.080 align:middle line:84% poets I have been lucky enough to work with and know, 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:09.660 align:middle line:84% which I can also say about tomorrow evening's three 00:04:09.660 --> 00:04:12.750 align:middle line:84% lecturers, Timothy Donnelly, Srikanth Reddy, and Rachel 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:13.980 align:middle line:90% Zucker. 00:04:13.980 --> 00:04:17.190 align:middle line:84% Before I turn it over to our first three distinguished poets 00:04:17.190 --> 00:04:20.490 align:middle line:84% and lecturers, I want to extend particular thanks to the Poetry 00:04:20.490 --> 00:04:23.040 align:middle line:84% Center, especially Tyler Meier, who's 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.810 align:middle line:84% been such a big supporter of this endeavor 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:25.770 align:middle line:90% from the beginning. 00:04:25.770 --> 00:04:29.337 align:middle line:84% As well as Becka Ranta, who's the events coordinator 00:04:29.337 --> 00:04:30.420 align:middle line:90% here at the Poetry Center. 00:04:30.420 --> 00:04:31.590 align:middle line:84% And they are just awesome people. 00:04:31.590 --> 00:04:34.090 align:middle line:84% And showing up here, immediately we felt completely at home, 00:04:34.090 --> 00:04:34.927 align:middle line:90% so thank you. 00:04:34.927 --> 00:04:36.510 align:middle line:84% We're thrilled to be able to celebrate 00:04:36.510 --> 00:04:38.955 align:middle line:84% the work of this lecture series here 00:04:38.955 --> 00:04:40.080 align:middle line:90% over the next several days. 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:42.270 align:middle line:90% I can't think of a better venue. 00:04:42.270 --> 00:04:44.100 align:middle line:84% I want to thank Charlie and Barb, 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:46.230 align:middle line:84% the lecturers, and also Wave Books, 00:04:46.230 --> 00:04:49.200 align:middle line:84% represented in particular by senior editor Heidi Broadhead, 00:04:49.200 --> 00:04:50.610 align:middle line:90% who's here tonight. 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:52.140 align:middle line:84% Special thanks to the coordinator 00:04:52.140 --> 00:04:53.550 align:middle line:84% of the series, Ellen Welcker, who 00:04:53.550 --> 00:04:56.820 align:middle line:84% did some serious coordinating to get us all here. 00:04:56.820 --> 00:04:59.980 align:middle line:84% And finally, I want to thank all of you for being here. 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:02.460 align:middle line:84% I know I'm speaking on behalf of all our poets 00:05:02.460 --> 00:05:05.460 align:middle line:84% when I say we're grateful beyond measure for your kind 00:05:05.460 --> 00:05:07.310 align:middle line:90% attention.