WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.150 align:middle line:90% 00:00:08.150 --> 00:00:09.480 align:middle line:90% So hi, everyone. 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:10.680 align:middle line:90% I'm Diana Delgado. 00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:13.910 align:middle line:84% I'm the literary director of the University of Arizona Poetry 00:00:13.910 --> 00:00:16.370 align:middle line:84% Center, and I want to welcome everyone 00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:20.720 align:middle line:84% to our second episode of the Institute for Inquiry 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:22.100 align:middle line:90% and Poetics. 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:26.060 align:middle line:84% The Institute of-- was founded at the University of Arizona-- 00:00:26.060 --> 00:00:30.560 align:middle line:84% is a thought center designed to create space and time for poets 00:00:30.560 --> 00:00:33.080 align:middle line:84% to respond to pressing questions that 00:00:33.080 --> 00:00:36.890 align:middle line:84% reside at the intersection of social concern and poetry. 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:39.830 align:middle line:84% Encouraging interdisciplinary modalities 00:00:39.830 --> 00:00:42.170 align:middle line:84% and investigative research, the institute 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:44.600 align:middle line:84% will ask poets a series of questions, 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:46.850 align:middle line:84% and digitally archive their responses 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:50.140 align:middle line:90% on poetry.arizona.edu. 00:00:50.140 --> 00:00:54.320 align:middle line:84% Today, I'm super excited to host Peter Harris, Michael 00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:57.320 align:middle line:84% Warr, Luivette Resto, and Luis J. 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:01.190 align:middle line:84% Rodriguez as part of this year's theme, "Beyond the Obvious." 00:01:01.190 --> 00:01:04.160 align:middle line:84% And we're especially excited to explore again 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:06.620 align:middle line:84% how imaginative language and poetry can help 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:09.500 align:middle line:90% create a sense of belonging. 00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:11.420 align:middle line:84% In our program tonight, each poet 00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:15.260 align:middle line:84% will be reading for about 15 minutes, sharing 00:01:15.260 --> 00:01:18.140 align:middle line:84% work in response to our theme, and then after the reading, 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.900 align:middle line:90% will be in conversation. 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:24.860 align:middle line:84% Before we begin tonight's reading program, 00:01:24.860 --> 00:01:27.080 align:middle line:84% the University of Arizona Poetry Center 00:01:27.080 --> 00:01:30.770 align:middle line:84% must acknowledge that we exist on the traditional homelands 00:01:30.770 --> 00:01:32.720 align:middle line:84% of the Tohono O'odham, who have cared 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:34.550 align:middle line:90% for these lands for centuries. 00:01:34.550 --> 00:01:36.410 align:middle line:84% As a guest in these lands, I want 00:01:36.410 --> 00:01:39.650 align:middle line:84% to acknowledge that we are in occupied Tohono O'odham 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:41.750 align:middle line:90% territory. 00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:44.960 align:middle line:84% Our first reader is Peter J. Harris, 00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:47.780 align:middle line:84% and I'm going to read a little bit about Peter 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:50.870 align:middle line:90% before they read. 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:54.380 align:middle line:84% Peter J. Harris is a 2018 Los Angeles COLA 00:01:54.380 --> 00:01:57.290 align:middle line:84% Fellow in Literary Arts, Fellow of the Los Angeles 00:01:57.290 --> 00:02:01.820 align:middle line:84% Institute for the Humanities at USC, and award-winning poet. 00:02:01.820 --> 00:02:05.060 align:middle line:84% He is the author of Bless the Ashes: 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:09.680 align:middle line:84% Poetry by Tía Chucha Press, winner of the 2015 PEN Oakland 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:13.160 align:middle line:84% Josephine Miles Award, and The Black Man of Happiness: 00:02:13.160 --> 00:02:17.120 align:middle line:84% In Pursuit of My Unalienable Right, 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:21.560 align:middle line:84% a book of personal essays, winner of a 2015 American Book 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.000 align:middle line:90% Award as well. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:26.600 align:middle line:84% In 2021, FlowerSong Press will publish 00:02:26.600 --> 00:02:30.380 align:middle line:84% Harris's Safe Arms: 20 Love & Erotic Poems 00:02:30.380 --> 00:02:33.980 align:middle line:84% (with an Ooh, Baby, Baby Moan) with Spanish translations 00:02:33.980 --> 00:02:36.710 align:middle line:90% by Francisco Letelier. 00:02:36.710 --> 00:02:38.630 align:middle line:84% Harris is also the founding editor 00:02:38.630 --> 00:02:40.760 align:middle line:84% of the Black Man Of Happiness Project, 00:02:40.760 --> 00:02:43.430 align:middle line:84% a creative, intellectual, and artistic expression 00:02:43.430 --> 00:02:45.380 align:middle line:90% of Black men and joy. 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:48.230 align:middle line:84% Harris writes the blog, Wreaking Happiness: 00:02:48.230 --> 00:02:50.600 align:middle line:84% A Joyful Living Journal, and can be found 00:02:50.600 --> 00:02:54.470 align:middle line:90% at www.inspirationcrib.com. 00:02:54.470 --> 00:02:58.490 align:middle line:84% I love that landing site, by the way, Peter. 00:02:58.490 --> 00:03:04.370 align:middle line:84% His 2018 TEDxPasadena talk with Adenike A. Harris at Huntington 00:03:04.370 --> 00:03:07.160 align:middle line:84% Library, Healing versus Retaliation: 00:03:07.160 --> 00:03:09.440 align:middle line:84% Surviving Trauma and Sexual Abuse, 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:12.290 align:middle line:84% described and celebrated 15 years 00:03:12.290 --> 00:03:14.960 align:middle line:84% of working with his daughter after convicting and jailing 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.240 align:middle line:90% her predator ex-stepfather. 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:20.390 align:middle line:84% Harris and his daughter are also contributors to Love 00:03:20.390 --> 00:03:24.320 align:middle line:84% WITH Accountability: Digging Up The Roots of Child Sexual 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:29.030 align:middle line:84% Abuse, edited by Aishah Shahidah Simmons. 00:03:29.030 --> 00:03:31.670 align:middle line:84% Since the 1970s, Harris has published 00:03:31.670 --> 00:03:34.220 align:middle line:84% his work in a wide variety of publications, including 00:03:34.220 --> 00:03:37.880 align:middle line:84% Wide Awake: Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond, 00:03:37.880 --> 00:03:41.660 align:middle line:84% edited by Suzanne Lummis, Altadena Poetry Anthologies 00:03:41.660 --> 00:03:47.570 align:middle line:84% for 2018 and 2019, and Coiled Serpent: Poets Aspiring-- 00:03:47.570 --> 00:03:50.330 align:middle line:84% poets, excuse me, Coiled Serpent: 00:03:50.330 --> 00:03:54.770 align:middle line:84% Poets Arising from the Cultural Quakes & Shifts in Los Angeles, 00:03:54.770 --> 00:04:01.490 align:middle line:84% edited by Neelanjana Banerjee, Daniel A. Olivas, and Ruben J. 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:02.900 align:middle line:90% Rodriguez. 00:04:02.900 --> 00:04:07.910 align:middle line:84% Since 1992, Harris has been a member of the Anansi Writers 00:04:07.910 --> 00:04:12.290 align:middle line:84% Workshop at the World Stage, in LA's Leimert Park. 00:04:12.290 --> 00:04:15.910 align:middle line:84% Thank you, Peter, for being here with us today.