WEBVTT

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My name is Gail Browne.

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I'm executive director
of the Poetry Center.

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I want to welcome you
to tonight's reading,

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well, lecture really,
by Alison Deming.

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This is an incredible turnout.

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We never know when we start
the beginning of a series--

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[APPLAUSE]

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--what it's gonna be like,
and this is very gratifying

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to see so many people
interested in this subject

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and turning out for this
Poetry Center event.

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So thank you so much for coming.

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A little note before I
begin, if you haven't

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been to a reading at the Poetry
Center in this open-air format,

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I just like to make
sure people understand

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there is ambient noise
during the reading.

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We are sort of in the flight
path of UMC helicopters,

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and there is Speedway out
there, so from time to time

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you may hear some noise, there's
nothing we can do about it.

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We have the mics turned
up as loud as we can,

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and the speakers
understand that they

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need to be attentive to that,
but we do beg your pardon,

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but that's of course a wonderful
thing to be in this space

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and to have this
kind of atmosphere.

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So again, thank you.

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Welcome to "Oh
Earth, Wait for Me:

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Conversations About
Art and Ecology".

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We take our title for this
Fall's Reading and Lecture

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Series from a poem by Pablo
Neruda, whose work often

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speaks so eloquently to
the regeneration of Earth.

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"Oh Earth, wait for me.

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Return me, oh sun, to my wild
destiny, rain of ancient wood,

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bring me back the aroma and the
swords that fall from the sky,

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the solitary peace"--
see what I mean?

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"--the solitary piece
of pasture and rock,

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the damp at the river-margins,
the smell of the large tree,

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the wind alive like a heart
beating in the crowded

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restlessness of the
towering araucaria."

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So from now until
early December,

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we'll be hearing from
poets, musicians, composers,

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visual artists, and translators
about the ways in which

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their work responds to
a renewed understanding

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of the natural world
and our place in it.

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We'll explore how
the work of artists

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instigate perceptual, moral,
and political change that's

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demanded of us now.

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Clearly, the arts
and humanities are

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making critical contributions to
the conversation about ecology,

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contributions as
urgent and necessary

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as the information
provided by science.

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This series arose
through discussions

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with the Poetry Center
staff and advisory board,

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in collaboration with Alison
Hawthorne Deming and Jonathan

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Skinner, who's the editor of
a journal called Ecopoetics,

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and he'll be presenting
later in October.

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I am grateful to all for
your insight and creativity.

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In addition to the
readings and lectures,

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we're also presenting
ecologically-themed discussion

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groups.

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Robinson Jeffers's
Shop Talk takes

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place in the library
on Monday at 6 o'clock.

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Classes and workshops, Eric
Magrane's Ecopoetics workshop

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is not to be missed,
I expect you all

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to be signing up
after this event.

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Information over
there on that table.

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And, of course, our library
and visual art displays,

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maybe you were here for the
reception earlier, currently

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are Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,
Reimagine library exhibit,

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and the Ghost Net
Project exhibit.

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For more information,
go to our website.

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And again, events guides
are available at the table

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over here.

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We are extremely grateful to the
Center for Biological Diversity

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and its executive director,
Kieran Suckling, for offering

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to co-sponsor this series.

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Kieran is a member
of our advisory board

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and will introduce Alison
Deming in just a moment.

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This event is also made
possible through a contribution

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from the National
Endowment for the Arts,

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we love them, the
generous contributions

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of the Friends of
the Poetry Center,

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I think we love them even
more, and the Institute

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for the Environment here at
the University of Arizona.

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Alison Deming's books are
available for sale courtesy

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of U of A bookstore,
back there, and copies

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of her newest book
"Rope" are also here,

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you'll want to pick
up a copy, and she'll

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be happy to sign it for
you after the reading.

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So please welcome
Kieran Suckling.

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[APPLAUSE]

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