And we're very happy to present the Next Word in Poetry
tonight with Srikanth Reddy, Brian Turner, and Joshua Marie
Wilkinson--
three poets whose works we believe
herald a dynamic new era in contemporary poetry.
They will be introduced by graduate students
in the creative writing MFA program
and introducers are correspondingly
Arianne Zwartjes, Taylor Johnson, and Mary Marburg.
Tomorrow afternoon there will be a panel discussion
at which tonight's readers and introducers will
give their thoughts on new trends in contemporary poetry.
And as you'll soon hear, there's some fundamental similarities
in their work and perhaps more obviously
some fundamental distinctions.
So I suspect that the ensuing conversation will
be lively, thought-provoking, and rich,
and we hope to see you there.
And thanks again for being here tonight.
Now, I will welcome our first introducer
Arianne Zwartjes, who will introduce our first reader.