WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:05.110 align:middle line:90% Hi, everyone. 00:00:05.110 --> 00:00:06.630 align:middle line:90% How's it going? 00:00:06.630 --> 00:00:07.920 align:middle line:90% Good. 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:11.400 align:middle line:84% Are you excited for another poet? 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:13.560 align:middle line:90% Yay! 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:19.920 align:middle line:84% So I am very happy to introduce our next poet, Trish Salah. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.940 align:middle line:84% And before we bring her up, I just want to ask-- 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:26.290 align:middle line:84% I just want to see a show of hands. 00:00:26.290 --> 00:00:30.390 align:middle line:84% How many of us grew up gifted with the stories, the words, 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:33.270 align:middle line:84% the songs of trans and gender-nonconforming writers 00:00:33.270 --> 00:00:34.470 align:middle line:90% of color? 00:00:34.470 --> 00:00:37.440 align:middle line:90% Just see a show of hands. 00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:39.610 align:middle line:90% Oh, that is terrible. 00:00:39.610 --> 00:00:42.540 align:middle line:84% I would not raise my hand either. 00:00:42.540 --> 00:00:49.440 align:middle line:84% How many of us were assigned to read a book, a poem, a story 00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:53.820 align:middle line:84% by a teacher from when you were very little to all 00:00:53.820 --> 00:00:58.260 align:middle line:84% through grad school by a trans or gender non-conforming 00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:00.830 align:middle line:90% writer of color? 00:01:00.830 --> 00:01:01.940 align:middle line:90% That is terrible. 00:01:01.940 --> 00:01:03.320 align:middle line:90% One person. 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:04.519 align:middle line:90% Two people. 00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:05.480 align:middle line:90% Sorry. 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:09.680 align:middle line:84% So I'll keep asking some more questions. 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.750 align:middle line:84% And I just want you to think about this. 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:16.310 align:middle line:84% How many of us know who will catch 00:01:16.310 --> 00:01:20.720 align:middle line:84% the traces of our lives, our small queer lyrics? 00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:22.400 align:middle line:90% Who will remember our magic? 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.670 align:middle line:90% 00:01:25.670 --> 00:01:29.180 align:middle line:84% So this last question is not an easy one to know, 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:33.320 align:middle line:84% and I think Trish would think that not knowing might 00:01:33.320 --> 00:01:37.197 align:middle line:90% be a kind of archive. 00:01:37.197 --> 00:01:38.780 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to share with you a quote 00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:42.980 align:middle line:84% from an interview with Cordite Poetry Review, which I really 00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:44.090 align:middle line:90% like. 00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:46.140 align:middle line:90% And this is in Trish's words. 00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:47.690 align:middle line:84% "There is a kind of nerve language 00:01:47.690 --> 00:01:51.320 align:middle line:84% I want, an anxiety of wanting your wanting that 00:01:51.320 --> 00:01:55.250 align:middle line:84% leads nowhere good but is spectrally calibrated 00:01:55.250 --> 00:01:57.620 align:middle line:90% to what once was. 00:01:57.620 --> 00:02:00.830 align:middle line:84% I guess that's an exilic dimension, the longing 00:02:00.830 --> 00:02:02.900 align:middle line:84% for outmoded or overpowered narrative 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:05.450 align:middle line:84% entanglements with shifting grounds 00:02:05.450 --> 00:02:08.330 align:middle line:84% that perhaps still have something to teach, 00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:12.260 align:middle line:84% a cultivating of desire's thickly sidereal quality, which 00:02:12.260 --> 00:02:14.150 align:middle line:84% is really about striking a point, 00:02:14.150 --> 00:02:17.120 align:middle line:84% making a calculus of not knowing rather 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.860 align:middle line:90% than discernible objects." 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:25.320 align:middle line:84% So Trish's work-- they feel to me like really good friends. 00:02:25.320 --> 00:02:27.540 align:middle line:90% They keep me company. 00:02:27.540 --> 00:02:28.350 align:middle line:90% They're brilliant. 00:02:28.350 --> 00:02:29.280 align:middle line:90% They're funny. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.170 align:middle line:90% They're weird and thoughtful. 00:02:31.170 --> 00:02:34.980 align:middle line:84% And they push me to think really differently, 00:02:34.980 --> 00:02:40.140 align:middle line:84% and they push me to think about the world in a different way. 00:02:40.140 --> 00:02:47.490 align:middle line:84% And they also push us to catch those traces that 00:02:47.490 --> 00:02:50.220 align:middle line:90% are uncategorizable. 00:02:50.220 --> 00:02:53.910 align:middle line:84% They're strange, and they are the textures 00:02:53.910 --> 00:02:55.470 align:middle line:90% which make up our lives. 00:02:55.470 --> 00:03:00.420 align:middle line:84% These are the textures which I think those of us here gathered 00:03:00.420 --> 00:03:03.600 align:middle line:84% think it's important to remember. 00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:06.720 align:middle line:84% And not only does Trish make these kinds 00:03:06.720 --> 00:03:11.670 align:middle line:84% of worlds in her writing, she also is a community builder. 00:03:11.670 --> 00:03:14.610 align:middle line:84% She's a gatherer, which is why it's so important for us 00:03:14.610 --> 00:03:16.890 align:middle line:90% to honor her work tonight. 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:23.550 align:middle line:84% Trish, you have gathered many of us through the gatherings 00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:25.620 align:middle line:84% that you organize, the writing trans 00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:27.960 align:middle line:84% genres, emergent literatures and criticisms, 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.800 align:middle line:84% which I know many folks in this room have been present at. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:36.150 align:middle line:84% You also co-organized the Decolonizing 00:03:36.150 --> 00:03:38.700 align:middle line:84% and Decriminalizing Trans Genres Conference 00:03:38.700 --> 00:03:41.400 align:middle line:84% as well, which is a companion conference 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.560 align:middle line:90% to that first conference. 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:47.940 align:middle line:84% You edited lots of journals with the works 00:03:47.940 --> 00:03:54.060 align:middle line:84% of transcultural producers, such as the TSQ Trans Gender Studies 00:03:54.060 --> 00:03:56.940 align:middle line:84% Quarterly, which is focused on transcultural production. 00:03:56.940 --> 00:04:00.510 align:middle line:84% This is crucial, lifesaving work. 00:04:00.510 --> 00:04:04.320 align:middle line:84% And I'm so happy that you're going to come up and share 00:04:04.320 --> 00:04:05.410 align:middle line:90% your words with us. 00:04:05.410 --> 00:04:06.750 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much. 00:04:06.750 --> 00:04:08.600 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]