WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.870 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.870 --> 00:00:03.390 align:middle line:84% Thank you so much for having me, Tucson. 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:06.970 align:middle line:84% I'm so happy to be here with you all and so grateful. 00:00:06.970 --> 00:00:07.830 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Farid. 00:00:07.830 --> 00:00:13.060 align:middle line:84% As a huge admirer, that was a tremendous gift. 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:14.850 align:middle line:84% I'm reading from Look, which, yes, 00:00:14.850 --> 00:00:17.280 align:middle line:84% deals with the US Department of Defense's dictionary. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:24.090 align:middle line:84% And I tend to just read, so I hope you'll go along with me. 00:00:24.090 --> 00:00:26.910 align:middle line:84% Maybe I'll read a few poems from a longer series 00:00:26.910 --> 00:00:30.120 align:middle line:84% that I wrote called "Reaching Guantanamo" that's 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.070 align:middle line:84% based on a New York Times article I 00:00:32.070 --> 00:00:35.220 align:middle line:84% read about a Guantanamo detainee named Salim Hamdan. 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:39.990 align:middle line:84% And in the article, it said that after listing the 22 00:00:39.990 --> 00:00:43.140 align:middle line:84% hours of solitary confinement, and the not seeing 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:44.970 align:middle line:84% his child that had been born, and all 00:00:44.970 --> 00:00:46.350 align:middle line:84% the stuff over the years, there's 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:50.110 align:middle line:84% just an aside that said, mail is late and often censored. 00:00:50.110 --> 00:00:55.380 align:middle line:84% So I wrote a series of imagined letters to him. 00:00:55.380 --> 00:01:02.810 align:middle line:84% "Reaching Guantanamo"-- "Dear Salim, love, are you well? 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:04.910 align:middle line:90% Do they-- you? 00:01:04.910 --> 00:01:06.830 align:middle line:90% I worry so much. 00:01:06.830 --> 00:01:10.820 align:middle line:90% Lately, my hair, even my skin. 00:01:10.820 --> 00:01:13.370 align:middle line:90% The doctors tell me it's--. 00:01:13.370 --> 00:01:14.060 align:middle line:90% I believe them. 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:15.137 align:middle line:90% It shouldn't. 00:01:15.137 --> 00:01:18.228 align:middle line:90% 00:01:18.228 --> 00:01:19.020 align:middle line:90% Please don't worry. 00:01:19.020 --> 00:01:22.940 align:middle line:90% 00:01:22.940 --> 00:01:26.550 align:middle line:84% In the yard, and moths have gotten to your mother's--. 00:01:26.550 --> 00:01:27.230 align:middle line:90% Remember? 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:28.460 align:middle line:90% I've enclosed some. 00:01:28.460 --> 00:01:30.020 align:middle line:90% Made this batch just for you. 00:01:30.020 --> 00:01:31.070 align:middle line:90% Please eat well. 00:01:31.070 --> 00:01:33.290 align:middle line:90% Why did you-- me to remarry? 00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:35.210 align:middle line:90% I told-- And he couldn't-- 00:01:35.210 --> 00:01:35.750 align:middle line:90% it. 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:37.940 align:middle line:90% I would never--. 00:01:37.940 --> 00:01:40.130 align:middle line:84% Love, I'm singing that-- you loved. 00:01:40.130 --> 00:01:42.470 align:middle line:90% Remember the line that went--? 00:01:42.470 --> 00:01:44.970 align:middle line:90% I'm holding the-- just for you. 00:01:44.970 --> 00:01:45.470 align:middle line:90% Yours,-- 00:01:45.470 --> 00:01:50.630 align:middle line:90% 00:01:50.630 --> 00:01:54.890 align:middle line:84% Dear Salim, lightning across the sky all night, 00:01:54.890 --> 00:01:56.840 align:middle line:90% lighting up my--. 00:01:56.840 --> 00:01:58.910 align:middle line:90% But no rain, no--. 00:01:58.910 --> 00:02:04.370 align:middle line:84% When I get home, everything is dust. 00:02:04.370 --> 00:02:06.800 align:middle line:90% One pair of-- by the--. 00:02:06.800 --> 00:02:08.509 align:middle line:90% One towel, one--. 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:10.280 align:middle line:90% 1:00 in the morning. 00:02:10.280 --> 00:02:12.620 align:middle line:90% Anyway, I couldn't--. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.620 align:middle line:84% So I sat by the window watching it streak 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:17.840 align:middle line:84% and thinking I must look like something lit up. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:19.500 align:middle line:90% And-- like this--. 00:02:19.500 --> 00:02:20.000 align:middle line:90% Yours. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.740 align:middle line:90% 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:27.220 align:middle line:84% Dear Salim, at the store they brought--. 00:02:27.220 --> 00:02:30.730 align:middle line:90% 00:02:30.730 --> 00:02:33.550 align:middle line:90% Already bruised on the--. 00:02:33.550 --> 00:02:34.570 align:middle line:90% But still juicy. 00:02:34.570 --> 00:02:35.575 align:middle line:90% I pitted sour--. 00:02:35.575 --> 00:02:39.450 align:middle line:90% 00:02:39.450 --> 00:02:42.180 align:middle line:90% All day, the newspaper went--. 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:43.020 align:middle line:90% With their juice. 00:02:43.020 --> 00:02:48.745 align:middle line:84% I save you-- jars of preserves for your return. 00:02:48.745 --> 00:02:51.330 align:middle line:90% 00:02:51.330 --> 00:02:52.770 align:middle line:90% Some plums too. 00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:54.750 align:middle line:90% I haven't opened a-- 00:02:54.750 --> 00:02:56.040 align:middle line:90% since they--. 00:02:56.040 --> 00:02:58.830 align:middle line:90% You can't stand all those-- 00:02:58.830 --> 00:03:00.900 align:middle line:90% all those teeth. 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:05.820 align:middle line:84% Or maybe the-- how they stain upholstery like--. 00:03:05.820 --> 00:03:07.950 align:middle line:90% I hope I don't make you-- 00:03:07.950 --> 00:03:08.670 align:middle line:90% me. 00:03:08.670 --> 00:03:11.070 align:middle line:90% I hope they allow you some--. 00:03:11.070 --> 00:03:12.620 align:middle line:90% Yours." 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:14.000 align:middle line:90%