WEBVTT

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There is in my new and
selected a conversation

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with Kes Woodward, who is the
preeminent painter in Alaska

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right now.

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And we had an
artistic conversation

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that lasted a year.

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It started when I wrote a
poem and sent it to Kes,

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and he painted in response.

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And then I wrote,
and then he painted.

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And I wrote, and he painted.

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We did this for a
year, and then we

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had an exhibit at the
Alaska Humanities Forum.

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And then later it
went into a magazine,

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and later it became
part of this book.

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And so if you get an
opportunity to work

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with a painter or a dancer or
anyone working in any other art

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form, I recommend
that you do it,

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because it becomes
a third thing.

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It wasn't just poetry.

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It wasn't just painting.

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It was just a great,
tremendous synergy that

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happened between the two of us.

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So here are a couple of the
poems that came from that.

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Listening among
birches-- by the way,

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he's most famous for his
portraits of birch trees.

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He thinks he's done.

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And I teased him a lot,
because we did a book together,

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and a lot of his
paintings too have names

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like birch portrait number 34.

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Well, when you get like
in the 60s with them,

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then you have to
start describing them.

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It's not too practical.

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"Listening among
birches, those of us

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still rooted to
this Earth lie back

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on the sponge of
other lives, look up

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through 13 layers of breath.

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Below roots echo branching
canopies, deepen and widen

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toward moisture not light.

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Under us, nine worlds at least.

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Those who've gone before
travel along trees, all trees,

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not just the giant
the Mayans imagined,

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not just the ancient
redwood or kauri or oak.

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These birches hold the laughter
we can't quite call back,

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the glance that touched us
more intimately than skin.

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Inside us conversations
continue, layer upon layer,

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off kilter but not
really one sided,

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absent love so fully present.

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So much left unsaid, undone,
each weight specific.

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One love, particular, listening,
alive, beyond mere death."

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I also want to
thank Ander Monson.

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Thank you for making
those broadsides.

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That's above and beyond,
and we appreciate it.