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The introduction I
wanted to give they said

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was inappropriate.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Could well get me arrested.

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They said be short.

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I said I'll be brief.

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Richard Siken, while
writing both Crush and War

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of the Foxes, alternated
between working as a bartender

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and in group homes.

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He filled essentially
the same purpose in each,

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giving people the
things they wanted--

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what they needed.

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Us going to him because
he's a professional,

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and could fill these wants and
these needs more completely,

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and with greater skill, than
we could do for ourselves.

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And his books, his poetry,
they function in the same way.

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They serve the same purpose.

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And as with the bar,
and with the homes,

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it's an act of service.

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It's a wholly selfish act,
as all our actions are.

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But by giving us what we
need and what we want,

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and doing it better than
we can do ourselves,

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he creates a space in which
he is a possible thing.

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I'm fortunate to exist on
the periphery of this space.

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Proud to call him my friend.

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His work, and his
service through his work,

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is how I was able to begin
to understand poetry.

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And for better or worse,
it's the lens through which I

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view much of literature today.

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He's won awards, but I won't
bother to list them here.

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I'll say that if I had any
say, he'd win all of them.

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Richard Siken.