My goodness, thank you so much.
Arizona is special to me for many reasons.
But now I can add one more, that this
is the place where I saw the cover of my poetry book
for the first time.
So I need to just take a moment here.
I'm so overwhelmed with the kindness
that has been extended to me by Tyler
and Hannah and the entire--
every single person, it's like I'm
in the Twilight Zone of good poetry vibes
here in the desert.
Thank you so much for this incredible welcome.
Some of you might know this, most of you
probably don't, but I spent my formative years
in the Valley of the Sun.
From 1982 to '86, I lived in Glendale, Arizona.
So just stepping off the plane and smelling the creosote
and seeing the ocotillo and the saguaro,
it always just snaps to you.
It's like I'm home a little bit.
So anyways, so thank you, thank you.
I'm going to start off.
I'm going to do a little dip into each of my poetry
collections, and then I'll end with some brand new ones
as well.
And I've got some special things to show you online as well.
And so hopefully everything will work out,
and I know it will because Hannah is amazing.