WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.220 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:06.480 align:middle line:84% About 20 years ago I was researching 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:08.850 align:middle line:84% my book, "La Frontera, the United States Border 00:00:08.850 --> 00:00:10.620 align:middle line:90% with Mexico." 00:00:10.620 --> 00:00:14.550 align:middle line:84% And I just spent three frankly God awful weeks 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:19.230 align:middle line:84% in El Paso and Juarez, and I finally got out of there 00:00:19.230 --> 00:00:21.570 align:middle line:90% and I headed west. 00:00:21.570 --> 00:00:26.640 align:middle line:84% I headed to a place where the borderlands get kind of blurry. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:31.680 align:middle line:84% There are intricate canyons and the water flows sometimes 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:33.870 align:middle line:84% in Arizona, sometimes in New Mexico, 00:00:33.870 --> 00:00:37.410 align:middle line:90% sometimes in old Mexico. 00:00:37.410 --> 00:00:43.821 align:middle line:84% I was headed in search of a reclusive legend. 00:00:43.821 --> 00:00:46.290 align:middle line:84% This guy came out of a well-known St. Louis 00:00:46.290 --> 00:00:49.170 align:middle line:84% family who didn't enter the well-known St. Louis family's 00:00:49.170 --> 00:00:53.730 align:middle line:84% well-known family business because during high school 00:00:53.730 --> 00:00:56.790 align:middle line:84% he had spent his summers cowboying in Wyoming, 00:00:56.790 --> 00:01:02.250 align:middle line:84% and when it was time for him to go, he also headed west. 00:01:02.250 --> 00:01:03.810 align:middle line:90% He came here to this University. 00:01:03.810 --> 00:01:06.060 align:middle line:84% In fact to this very Poetry Center, 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:09.870 align:middle line:84% and he became enthralled with what he read, 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:12.570 align:middle line:84% and what he began to write, and within a few years 00:01:12.570 --> 00:01:13.590 align:middle line:90% he was published. 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.320 align:middle line:90% 00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:18.480 align:middle line:84% You can find in the library here a copy 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:22.380 align:middle line:84% of his earliest book, "The Webbing" and I do recommend it. 00:01:22.380 --> 00:01:24.240 align:middle line:84% Because of that work he was embraced 00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:31.920 align:middle line:84% by some of the great poets of our times, Charles Olson, Gary 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:36.000 align:middle line:84% Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Robert Creeley. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.580 align:middle line:90% 00:01:38.580 --> 00:01:40.620 align:middle line:84% He communed with them, he traveled with them, 00:01:40.620 --> 00:01:42.750 align:middle line:84% but then a curious itch took over 00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:46.290 align:middle line:84% and instead of west he turned south. 00:01:46.290 --> 00:01:49.110 align:middle line:84% He crawled through the border fence, 00:01:49.110 --> 00:01:53.700 align:middle line:84% came back two years later, el vaquero, the cowboy, 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:57.060 align:middle line:90% and then he became a rancher. 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:01.140 align:middle line:84% The first night that I was at Drum's ranch 00:02:01.140 --> 00:02:05.190 align:middle line:84% he and I and photographer Jay Dusard whose 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:08.520 align:middle line:84% work has graced the walls of this Center 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:12.240 align:middle line:84% and a bottle of tequila, we took a walk 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:13.920 align:middle line:84% that crossed all of those borders 00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:15.930 align:middle line:84% that I mentioned at one time or another. 00:02:15.930 --> 00:02:21.570 align:middle line:84% We were following a creek that ran through a gorgeous canyon 00:02:21.570 --> 00:02:26.580 align:middle line:84% that Drum Hadley had nursed so beautifully back to health 00:02:26.580 --> 00:02:30.330 align:middle line:84% that it eventually won him an Aldo Leopold award. 00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:33.870 align:middle line:84% Even as he was still running cows through it. 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:36.930 align:middle line:84% In coming years, he would be known for conservation work, 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.660 align:middle line:84% founding of the Animas Foundation, 00:02:39.660 --> 00:02:45.330 align:middle line:84% and a co-founder of the Malpai Group. 00:02:45.330 --> 00:02:48.420 align:middle line:84% Drum and his neighbor ranchers dedicated 00:02:48.420 --> 00:02:51.540 align:middle line:84% to preserving a way of life, open spaces, and wildlife 00:02:51.540 --> 00:02:54.210 align:middle line:90% habitats all at once. 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:56.320 align:middle line:90% Drum became known for that work. 00:02:56.320 --> 00:02:58.710 align:middle line:84% But what had happened to the poet? 00:02:58.710 --> 00:03:00.960 align:middle line:84% Well, there had been a couple of early books, 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.700 align:middle line:84% but then in the years to follow even though many of his poet 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:10.860 align:middle line:84% friends would come down to his ranch, all of us 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:12.810 align:middle line:84% writers who would go down there, we 00:03:12.810 --> 00:03:15.240 align:middle line:84% knew that there were still poems flowing. 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:23.310 align:middle line:84% But they had not yet pooled into a book. 00:03:23.310 --> 00:03:26.280 align:middle line:84% Well, years went by, and I once asked 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:30.270 align:middle line:84% Drum who had talked a lot about why he liked being 00:03:30.270 --> 00:03:34.530 align:middle line:90% away from cities, why was he-- 00:03:34.530 --> 00:03:35.760 align:middle line:90% why had he chosen the border? 00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:38.790 align:middle line:84% Why not the Dakotas or someplace? 00:03:38.790 --> 00:03:39.690 align:middle line:90% Here's his answer. 00:03:39.690 --> 00:03:43.410 align:middle line:84% He says, because Mexico provides the continuum of traditions 00:03:43.410 --> 00:03:45.960 align:middle line:84% created in the image of the Earth, 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:48.425 align:middle line:84% in the image of weather and land patterns. 00:03:48.425 --> 00:03:51.300 align:middle line:90% 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:56.550 align:middle line:84% Also because Mexicans have a knowledge of waiting. 00:03:56.550 --> 00:04:02.520 align:middle line:84% Well, as far as this book goes, the waiting for us is over. 00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:05.520 align:middle line:84% It's here and it's a masterpiece. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:09.630 align:middle line:84% I'm doubly pleased to be able to present Drum to you tonight. 00:04:09.630 --> 00:04:13.830 align:middle line:84% One, so you can hear him read, and two, because right 00:04:13.830 --> 00:04:16.839 align:middle line:84% about the time that he delivered the manuscript, 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.140 align:middle line:90% we nearly lost him. 00:04:19.140 --> 00:04:21.779 align:middle line:84% Drum was driving the Geronimo Trail, 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:24.870 align:middle line:84% a road so remote in Southern Arizona 00:04:24.870 --> 00:04:27.300 align:middle line:84% that you would never think that you're going 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:29.430 align:middle line:90% to meet someone coming on it. 00:04:29.430 --> 00:04:31.470 align:middle line:84% And surely the driver of the pickup truck who 00:04:31.470 --> 00:04:33.570 align:middle line:84% was on his side of the road cresting the hill 00:04:33.570 --> 00:04:35.320 align:middle line:84% didn't think he was going to meet anybody, 00:04:35.320 --> 00:04:38.640 align:middle line:90% but they met head on. 00:04:38.640 --> 00:04:40.500 align:middle line:84% Both of Drum's hands gripping the wheels 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:43.620 align:middle line:90% were broken, concussion. 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:48.240 align:middle line:84% An air bag saved him, luckily, and miraculously he 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.765 align:middle line:84% has been pulling it back together ever since. 00:04:51.765 --> 00:04:54.720 align:middle line:90% 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.740 align:middle line:84% His vision is still a little bit blurred, 00:04:58.740 --> 00:05:01.430 align:middle line:84% sort of like those borders that he's been crossing and writing 00:05:01.430 --> 00:05:02.940 align:middle line:90% about all these years. 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:07.430 align:middle line:84% So when he recites his poems tonight 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:09.590 align:middle line:84% because it's still hard for him to read, 00:05:09.590 --> 00:05:12.890 align:middle line:84% he's going to be assisted with some prompting 00:05:12.890 --> 00:05:15.320 align:middle line:90% by his companion Rebecca West. 00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:16.880 align:middle line:90% Thanks Rebecca. 00:05:16.880 --> 00:05:18.290 align:middle line:90% Thanks Drum. 00:05:18.290 --> 00:05:20.200 align:middle line:90% Go to it.