WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you for that
introduction, William,

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and thank you everyone
for being here today.

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It's just really a
pleasure to see so many

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of my friends and families
and colleagues here.

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It's just a real
honor, so thank you.

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Also special thank
you to Barbara Cully,

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who not only made this
opportunity possible for me

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by being my nominator,
but also has

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been an advocate for my work in
many capacities, and a reader,

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and a mentor, and a friend.

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So thank you, Barbara.

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I really appreciate it.

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I also-- thank you to the Poetry
Center for this opportunity.

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And as many of you know, we
have a world-renowned gem here.

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There's really nothing
like the Poetry Center,

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and the caliber of readers that
they bring in is phenomenal.

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So to be among them is
nothing I could have imagined,

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and I'm really, really
excited to be here.

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And also, working in
a nonprofit capacity,

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I want to just underscore
the value of an opportunity

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like this, made possible
by the generosity

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and in the memory of Mary Ann,
and the generosity of people,

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philanthropists like
Bill and Pam and Tony.

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Thank you so much.

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I can't tell you what this
means for someone who doesn't--

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who really writes in
my quiet little way

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and has my small group.

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But to be able to share, it's
really special, so thank you.

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So I am going to take
a small opportunity

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to do a public
service announcement

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for the organization I
work for, before I read.

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I am Executive
Director of Voices.

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We work with youth 14 to
21 to document their--

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to help them, provide them with
a safe space and the skills

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training and positive
relationships

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to document their
real-life stories.

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And we also help
provide platforms,

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to share them with the world.

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I have copies of the magazine
that our youth produce.

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It's over here on this table.

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So after the reading
tonight, if you

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want to pick one up and
take it with you, please do.

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I also want to ask you to mark
your calendars for May 13th.

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That is another reading
of our youth work, also

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an exhibit of their
artwork, their photographs.

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So please do come.

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We would love to have you.

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It's free.

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It's, I think, one of the most
amazing readings in Tucson.

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And tonight I'm so happy that
so many Voices colleagues

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and youth and board members
and advocates are here tonight.

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It's really-- and
donors and contributors

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to the work that we do.

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So thank you so much.

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I really do feel like that
is as much a calling for me

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as my writing.

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So I'm pleased to
speak about that.

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And onto the poems.

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My first section that I'm going
to read is from my chapbook

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that-- it's called Revenant,
as Bill said, to be published

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by Kore Press this spring.

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It doesn't need much
more of an introduction.

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But I do want to say
the poems in this piece

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have, in this chapbook,
have dramatic arc,

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so that the book itself has
a beginning, and a middle,

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and an end.

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And all of the poems
build on each other

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and speak to one another.

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So I'm going to
read them without--

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they don't have titles.

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So I'm going to read
them all at once,

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so you can kind of
keep one in your mind

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as we move on to the next, and
think of it as part of a whole.

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And I think I need a
drink of water first.

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Despite spray-painted tags on
its low-slung concrete brick

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wall, the alley seems more
country road than city lam.

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Pioneering, carved
out of necessity.

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Like a knuckle to the
finger, the driveway

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curves off the alley,
ending in a wooden fence

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the MacArthur sons
built by hand.

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But previously the house
was condemned, squatted

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and rewilding in
the purity of decay,

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a reduction or elevation,
whichever one prefers.

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No floor except dirt worn
low along the footpath

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and walls that softened
to paste in a monsoon.

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But they loved it anyway,
their little adobe

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bungalow with punch windows.

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Above, a red-tiled roof.

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Below, a foundation as solid
as the rock eventually beneath.

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Mrs. McArthur apologizes
for the ruined curtains.

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The former tenant smoked.

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"It's a shame why
he moved," she says.

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And you ask.

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"He killed someone.

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Tried to hide the evidence."

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Standing in your
dirt lot front yard,

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you wait until she
leaves, cry, then unload

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another box of
books and consider

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where the couch should go.

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You disinfect kitchen
cupboards with bleach,

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eroding spots of barbecue sauce
and rings from sticky jars.

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What food did he throw out
to make room for yours?

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Turning salad
dressings, soy sauce,

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withered peas embedded in ice.

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You liked the idea from breaking
from the ordered streets,

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too, When Mrs. McArthur
told you about the accident,

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you felt the tenant's
aura, perhaps.

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The weight of her words, surely.

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But you'd already
signed the lease.

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