Oh.
Hi.
So I am so excited to introduce Maggie.
So I'll just get into it.
Maggie Smith is a poet, author of three incredible books,
most recently Good Bones, and the recipient
of numerous awards from organizations
such as the National Arts Council and the Ohio Arts
Council.
In addition to all of this, she was also one of my first poetry
teachers.
I met Maggie in an undergraduate poetry class
at Ohio State where she was a visiting professor.
While planning on what to write for this introduction,
I decided to look through the notebook I
kept during her class and have kept this entire time.
[LAUGHTER]
A double underlined spot of wisdom glared out at me.
Quote, sports metaphors are hard if you don't play sports,
unquote.
[LAUGHTER]
It's true.
Simple and efficient advice.
Well, since the three years between Maggie's class
and tonight, I have officially taken four boxing classes that
hopefully will warrant its use.
Thank you.
[LAUGHTER]
Maggie taught me how to punch, poetically that is.
From her book, Lamp of the Body, the poem,
''Speaks to Progress'', ends with this jab.
Quote, but you move enough to prove that you could steal.
If you'd found anything of worth you'd have taken it.
Anger conducted into a well-timed ending
is not a skill taken lightly.
As women, we are often told anger is not a likeable trait
in person and in our writing''.
Maggie's work roundhouse kicks this sentiment in the face.
Maggie's work taught me how to dodge.
But just as importantly she taught me
how evasion means coming back even
stronger in the next stanza.
There is power too in stepping back, saving your strength
in order to preserve yourself, and taking a second to observe.
In the poem, ''Golden Rod'', the speaker states,
''I'm no botanist.
If you're the color of sulfur and growing at the roadside,
you're golden rod.
You don't care what I call you''.
Knowing your enemy, knowing your opponent,
knowing your subjects standing in front of you,
so one day you may become good friends
with shared appreciation.
Finally, Maggie taught me to fight with everything
I have behind me.
A mock epic is defined as a poetic genre, which
makes what is trivial grandiose in order
to satirize human behavior.
Pointing out the absurdity of life through a cynic's lens.
If there were a word for the antithesis of this affect,
a word for this deeply authentic push for caring,
it would be found in the deep and well tended
folds of Maggie Smith's work.
If Maggie were to open a gym, I'd be the first one to join.
Buy the book and T-shirt type of joining.
She doesn't use her ability to control readers
into throwing in their lot with the sneering crowd booing
at the future.
But instead, uses her ability to make me want to root for it.
Make me want to go red over the thought of fighting for it.
Maggie's poems assure me I'm ready to follow her
into the ring.
OK, that's enough sports metaphor.
More correctly, follow her into this world where
we can hold beauty and anger.
And the questioning of both, we find in ourselves
not just as readers and writers, but as community.
I hope it's not too presumptuous to provide a response to her
final poem, ''First Fall''.
But here it goes.
I'm desperate for all of us to love
the world she has created through her work
because of the care she took bringing us here.
Please help me in welcoming Maggie Smith.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]