WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.305 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.305 --> 00:00:06.900 align:middle line:84% I am going to dedicate this reading to a long-time friend 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:10.080 align:middle line:84% of mine whom I just heard finally passed away 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.410 align:middle line:84% after many years of suffering from cancer. 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:18.900 align:middle line:90% Fay Chiang was an-- is-- 00:00:18.900 --> 00:00:21.870 align:middle line:90% was a great poet. 00:00:21.870 --> 00:00:23.760 align:middle line:84% But she's also one of those people 00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:26.940 align:middle line:84% that way back in the day, she started the basement workshop 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:29.460 align:middle line:90% in Chinatown in New York. 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:31.470 align:middle line:84% And the basement workshop was where 00:00:31.470 --> 00:00:36.000 align:middle line:84% all of Puerto Ricans and African Americans 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.250 align:middle line:84% and Chinese Americans and anybody 00:00:38.250 --> 00:00:41.650 align:middle line:84% else who was sort of Asian at that point-- 00:00:41.650 --> 00:00:44.190 align:middle line:84% thought about it; maybe I'm Asian, I don't know-- 00:00:44.190 --> 00:00:45.450 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:45.450 --> 00:00:46.536 align:middle line:90% --they showed up. 00:00:46.536 --> 00:00:52.230 align:middle line:84% [LAUGH] That's where I met Jason Wong, the wonderful composer 00:00:52.230 --> 00:00:54.150 align:middle line:90% and musician. 00:00:54.150 --> 00:01:00.120 align:middle line:84% That's where I saw Thulani Davis do a performance piece. 00:01:00.120 --> 00:01:04.709 align:middle line:90% Fay also was a labor organizer. 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:09.210 align:middle line:84% She worked with children, young people with HIV. 00:01:09.210 --> 00:01:13.190 align:middle line:90% 00:01:13.190 --> 00:01:18.480 align:middle line:90% She will be missed greatly. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.050 align:middle line:90% She will be missed greatly. 00:01:22.050 --> 00:01:24.370 align:middle line:90% And I have to say this. 00:01:24.370 --> 00:01:27.425 align:middle line:84% I hate the word intersectional a lot. 00:01:27.425 --> 00:01:28.790 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:28.790 --> 00:01:32.280 align:middle line:90% I actually-- I really do. 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:38.040 align:middle line:84% But as-- I come from a small town in Arkansas. 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:41.730 align:middle line:84% And one of the things about coming from a small town 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:44.400 align:middle line:84% is that when you go to the big city, whatever 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.870 align:middle line:84% that big city is, you start to find all of the people 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:52.110 align:middle line:84% that you never could find in your small town. 00:01:52.110 --> 00:01:55.320 align:middle line:90% And I'm grateful that I did. 00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.720 align:middle line:84% And I think a lot of people who are here, 00:01:57.720 --> 00:02:03.120 align:middle line:84% probably, have had some version of that life experience. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:08.820 align:middle line:84% It is great to be in a situation where the central and core 00:02:08.820 --> 00:02:14.805 align:middle line:84% discourse is focused on writers and artists of color. 00:02:14.805 --> 00:02:17.321 align:middle line:90% 00:02:17.321 --> 00:02:19.060 align:middle line:84% I've been to any number of things 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:20.830 align:middle line:90% where there's always, like-- 00:02:20.830 --> 00:02:23.680 align:middle line:84% I mean, I can literally tell you stories about-- 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:24.580 align:middle line:90% well, I will. 00:02:24.580 --> 00:02:26.110 align:middle line:84% One of my favorites of a long time 00:02:26.110 --> 00:02:30.145 align:middle line:84% ago was Ron Welburn, who is a good poet. 00:02:30.145 --> 00:02:30.940 align:middle line:90% He's a solid poet. 00:02:30.940 --> 00:02:35.650 align:middle line:84% And I used to work for CCLM before it was CLMP. 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:39.700 align:middle line:84% And he was telling me that he sent a whole bunch of poems-- 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:42.400 align:middle line:84% I think it was either to the Iowa Review or the Indiana, 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.450 align:middle line:90% one of those. 00:02:43.450 --> 00:02:45.400 align:middle line:84% And they sent them back to him and said, 00:02:45.400 --> 00:02:49.270 align:middle line:90% we've had our Negro issue. 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.520 align:middle line:90% Things have changed. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.550 align:middle line:90% Thank God, the goddess-- 00:02:54.550 --> 00:02:59.200 align:middle line:84% whomever you believe in, things have changed. 00:02:59.200 --> 00:03:03.440 align:middle line:84% The question for all of us is, how do we keep that going? 00:03:03.440 --> 00:03:06.670 align:middle line:84% So that would be what I would say 00:03:06.670 --> 00:03:08.980 align:middle line:90% is the biggest question of all. 00:03:08.980 --> 00:03:10.990 align:middle line:84% And the only people that can answer it 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:13.780 align:middle line:84% are the people in this room, and their colleagues, 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:16.510 align:middle line:84% and the people who read them or see their art 00:03:16.510 --> 00:03:18.430 align:middle line:90% or care about what they do. 00:03:18.430 --> 00:03:19.750 align:middle line:90% That's the deal. 00:03:19.750 --> 00:03:21.040 align:middle line:90% All right, poems. 00:03:21.040 --> 00:03:23.680 align:middle line:90% 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:26.260 align:middle line:84% I did a-- for the Center for Book Arts, 00:03:26.260 --> 00:03:32.980 align:middle line:84% I did a really funny poem with Ada Limón, Miss Ada. 00:03:32.980 --> 00:03:36.740 align:middle line:84% So I gave her the first line, and we went from there. 00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:38.890 align:middle line:90% This is called "Answer This." 00:03:38.890 --> 00:03:40.870 align:middle line:90% And it kind of is for everybody. 00:03:40.870 --> 00:03:43.990 align:middle line:84% "Oh, oracle, where are the jewels? 00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:44.830 align:middle line:90% Thief! 00:03:44.830 --> 00:03:47.290 align:middle line:84% You drew the light from sapphires 00:03:47.290 --> 00:03:49.660 align:middle line:90% and lifted the pearl's sheen. 00:03:49.660 --> 00:03:52.570 align:middle line:84% How can you prophesize, how can you 00:03:52.570 --> 00:03:55.810 align:middle line:84% declaim, when we're down in the day's dirt, 00:03:55.810 --> 00:03:59.170 align:middle line:84% licking our self-made wounds to dust. 00:03:59.170 --> 00:04:06.490 align:middle line:84% Oh, oracle, we owe you nothing but the question, always 00:04:06.490 --> 00:04:08.500 align:middle line:90% the question." 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:09.000 align:middle line:90%