Hello, everyone.
Welcome.
How are you all?
Good?
We're ready to get the show on the road.
The technology is working.
Muriel Rukeyser has joined us.
What could go wrong?
Only things can go right.
Really glad that you all are here.
Thanks, everyone, for coming.
My name is Tyler.
I work as the director here at the Poetry Center.
Glad you all are here to hear an amazing lecture this evening.
And I'm grateful for Khaled for being here.
We've had an amazing stretch of time, where we've had Khaled
in Tucson for a while now as our Spring Poet in residence
here at the Poetry Center.
And so he read some poems last week from a new manuscript
that I'm so excited about and excited for that book
to be in the world.
I'm excited to have him here tonight
to talk a little bit more and read an essay to us.
Talk to us a little bit about poetry,
especially about the long poem, which I'm really,
really excited for.
Please, help me welcome my colleague Susan Briante,
a faculty member here in the MFA program in Creative Writing,
a translator, a friend.
She's going to help introduce Khaled Mattawa.
Thanks for being here.