WEBVTT

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Thanks, Hannah.

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So first I want to--

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well, I think of this
as a poetry community.

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And in an interview
Danniel gave on The Rumpus,

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I believe it was, he
referenced a quote--

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wow, there I am in stereo.

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What was I talking about?

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He referenced a quote
about community,

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saying that it's individuals
who lift up other individuals.

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And are not necessarily,
as we sometimes

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might think when we're in a
community, trying to critique

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or tear each other down.

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And in that vein, I wanted
to recognize someone

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in this community who just
won a really kickass award,

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and who shares that
with these two folks.

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And I don't know if Jos is here.

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I haven't seen them.

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But Jos Charles just won the
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent

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Award through the
Poetry Foundation.

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Totally.

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[APPLAUSE]

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So when you see them,
give them flowers.

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The last and first time I
met Danniel Schoonebeek,

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he was on tour for his first
book, American Barricade.

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It was 2014, and I was
right in the thick of it.

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I was right in
the thick of 2014,

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but I was also right in
the thick of the business

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of poetry, not poetry.

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I was increasingly
sad, but unable to look

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that sadness in the eye
or let that sadness speak.

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Workaholism is, no matter
where you practice it,

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still capitalism's wet dream.

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And, as academia demands, I
was focused on production.

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And I was spending a lot of
time with my personal ledger,

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the Almighty CV.

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I remember going to the
reading in a bit of a fog,

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the checklist ever increasing.

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And I'm sure, when I
was sat down to listen,

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I was still working
through things on the list.

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And when I think
of that time now,

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I think of something I read
in an interview with Danniel

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where he said,
quote, "Capitalism

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not only forces, but
encourages good people

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to be cruel to one another."

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End quote.

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And sometimes I think
the biggest cruelties

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of human existence can
be traced directly back

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to our lack of attention.

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I wasn't prepared
for how stilled

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I would be by his reading.

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A stillness I both needed,
and had studiously avoided.

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A stillness that was born
of direct eye contact.

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It wasn't aggressive,
but it was unrelenting.

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Yes, it was relentless.

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I remember and know this to
be the beauty of his work.

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A work that is
emboldened by searching.

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What I want to say
to you, Danniel,

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even though I'm talking to
you in public, is thank you.

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Since reading your
forthcoming book, Trebuchet,

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I've been carrying a pen and
paper in my pocket, something I

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actually haven't done in years.

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And there are poems
trying to find me there.

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There are stillnesses.

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There is speaking.

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Your work gives back a sacred
searching, and I, and we,

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are so lucky to be
here as you read.

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Danniel Schoonebeek.

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[APPLAUSE]

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