WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.600 align:middle line:90% Oh. 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:02.370 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:00:02.370 --> 00:00:08.440 align:middle line:84% So I am so excited to introduce Maggie. 00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:10.950 align:middle line:90% So I'll just get into it. 00:00:10.950 --> 00:00:14.440 align:middle line:84% Maggie Smith is a poet, author of three incredible books, 00:00:14.440 --> 00:00:16.710 align:middle line:84% most recently Good Bones, and the recipient 00:00:16.710 --> 00:00:18.930 align:middle line:84% of numerous awards from organizations 00:00:18.930 --> 00:00:21.930 align:middle line:84% such as the National Arts Council and the Ohio Arts 00:00:21.930 --> 00:00:23.220 align:middle line:90% Council. 00:00:23.220 --> 00:00:26.400 align:middle line:84% In addition to all of this, she was also one of my first poetry 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:27.600 align:middle line:90% teachers. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.120 align:middle line:84% I met Maggie in an undergraduate poetry class 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.880 align:middle line:84% at Ohio State where she was a visiting professor. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:35.130 align:middle line:84% While planning on what to write for this introduction, 00:00:35.130 --> 00:00:36.960 align:middle line:84% I decided to look through the notebook I 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:39.955 align:middle line:84% kept during her class and have kept this entire time. 00:00:39.955 --> 00:00:41.200 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:45.210 align:middle line:84% A double underlined spot of wisdom glared out at me. 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:49.080 align:middle line:84% Quote, sports metaphors are hard if you don't play sports, 00:00:49.080 --> 00:00:50.012 align:middle line:90% unquote. 00:00:50.012 --> 00:00:51.880 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:53.380 align:middle line:90% It's true. 00:00:53.380 --> 00:00:55.300 align:middle line:90% Simple and efficient advice. 00:00:55.300 --> 00:00:57.610 align:middle line:84% Well, since the three years between Maggie's class 00:00:57.610 --> 00:01:01.450 align:middle line:84% and tonight, I have officially taken four boxing classes that 00:01:01.450 --> 00:01:03.580 align:middle line:90% hopefully will warrant its use. 00:01:03.580 --> 00:01:04.946 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:01:04.946 --> 00:01:06.760 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:10.000 align:middle line:84% Maggie taught me how to punch, poetically that is. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.920 align:middle line:84% From her book, Lamp of the Body, the poem, 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.590 align:middle line:84% ''Speaks to Progress'', ends with this jab. 00:01:14.590 --> 00:01:18.070 align:middle line:84% Quote, but you move enough to prove that you could steal. 00:01:18.070 --> 00:01:21.670 align:middle line:84% If you'd found anything of worth you'd have taken it. 00:01:21.670 --> 00:01:24.130 align:middle line:84% Anger conducted into a well-timed ending 00:01:24.130 --> 00:01:26.320 align:middle line:90% is not a skill taken lightly. 00:01:26.320 --> 00:01:29.260 align:middle line:84% As women, we are often told anger is not a likeable trait 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:31.360 align:middle line:90% in person and in our writing''. 00:01:31.360 --> 00:01:35.410 align:middle line:84% Maggie's work roundhouse kicks this sentiment in the face. 00:01:35.410 --> 00:01:38.200 align:middle line:84% Maggie's work taught me how to dodge. 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:39.790 align:middle line:84% But just as importantly she taught me 00:01:39.790 --> 00:01:41.530 align:middle line:84% how evasion means coming back even 00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:43.510 align:middle line:90% stronger in the next stanza. 00:01:43.510 --> 00:01:46.330 align:middle line:84% There is power too in stepping back, saving your strength 00:01:46.330 --> 00:01:50.250 align:middle line:84% in order to preserve yourself, and taking a second to observe. 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:53.050 align:middle line:84% In the poem, ''Golden Rod'', the speaker states, 00:01:53.050 --> 00:01:54.190 align:middle line:90% ''I'm no botanist. 00:01:54.190 --> 00:01:57.220 align:middle line:84% If you're the color of sulfur and growing at the roadside, 00:01:57.220 --> 00:01:58.660 align:middle line:90% you're golden rod. 00:01:58.660 --> 00:02:00.730 align:middle line:84% You don't care what I call you''. 00:02:00.730 --> 00:02:02.920 align:middle line:84% Knowing your enemy, knowing your opponent, 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:05.050 align:middle line:84% knowing your subjects standing in front of you, 00:02:05.050 --> 00:02:07.300 align:middle line:84% so one day you may become good friends 00:02:07.300 --> 00:02:09.460 align:middle line:90% with shared appreciation. 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:11.770 align:middle line:84% Finally, Maggie taught me to fight with everything 00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:13.420 align:middle line:90% I have behind me. 00:02:13.420 --> 00:02:16.240 align:middle line:84% A mock epic is defined as a poetic genre, which 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.490 align:middle line:84% makes what is trivial grandiose in order 00:02:18.490 --> 00:02:20.560 align:middle line:90% to satirize human behavior. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.370 align:middle line:84% Pointing out the absurdity of life through a cynic's lens. 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.130 align:middle line:84% If there were a word for the antithesis of this affect, 00:02:27.130 --> 00:02:29.620 align:middle line:84% a word for this deeply authentic push for caring, 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.200 align:middle line:84% it would be found in the deep and well tended 00:02:32.200 --> 00:02:34.630 align:middle line:90% folds of Maggie Smith's work. 00:02:34.630 --> 00:02:38.510 align:middle line:84% If Maggie were to open a gym, I'd be the first one to join. 00:02:38.510 --> 00:02:41.410 align:middle line:84% Buy the book and T-shirt type of joining. 00:02:41.410 --> 00:02:43.690 align:middle line:84% She doesn't use her ability to control readers 00:02:43.690 --> 00:02:46.390 align:middle line:84% into throwing in their lot with the sneering crowd booing 00:02:46.390 --> 00:02:47.300 align:middle line:90% at the future. 00:02:47.300 --> 00:02:50.740 align:middle line:84% But instead, uses her ability to make me want to root for it. 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:54.050 align:middle line:84% Make me want to go red over the thought of fighting for it. 00:02:54.050 --> 00:02:56.620 align:middle line:84% Maggie's poems assure me I'm ready to follow her 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:57.840 align:middle line:90% into the ring. 00:02:57.840 --> 00:02:59.550 align:middle line:84% OK, that's enough sports metaphor. 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:03.100 align:middle line:84% More correctly, follow her into this world where 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:04.690 align:middle line:90% we can hold beauty and anger. 00:03:04.690 --> 00:03:07.180 align:middle line:84% And the questioning of both, we find in ourselves 00:03:07.180 --> 00:03:10.390 align:middle line:84% not just as readers and writers, but as community. 00:03:10.390 --> 00:03:13.480 align:middle line:84% I hope it's not too presumptuous to provide a response to her 00:03:13.480 --> 00:03:15.680 align:middle line:90% final poem, ''First Fall''. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:17.050 align:middle line:90% But here it goes. 00:03:17.050 --> 00:03:19.600 align:middle line:84% I'm desperate for all of us to love 00:03:19.600 --> 00:03:21.910 align:middle line:84% the world she has created through her work 00:03:21.910 --> 00:03:24.670 align:middle line:84% because of the care she took bringing us here. 00:03:24.670 --> 00:03:26.770 align:middle line:84% Please help me in welcoming Maggie Smith. 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:27.580 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:27.580 --> 00:03:29.430 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]