WEBVTT

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Hello, everybody, welcome.

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Can you hear me OK?

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You can.

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Great, nice to see everybody.

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Thanks for coming out
on a Thursday night

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in Tucson, happy to
have everyone here.

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We have officially come to
the end of our reading series

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that brings visiting poets
to Tucson for the year.

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So good work, you've
chosen the right place

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to be on this night.

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Give yourself a
round of applause.

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[APPLAUSE]

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It's been a beautiful
year, if you've

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been able to see any
of the other readings,

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and we're thrilled to have
this moment after what

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the past three years
have looked like,

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and so we're really looking
forward to what comes next.

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There's a really exciting
season that comes up

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that starts in the
fall, and there's

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a lot of summer programs
that you'll hear about soon

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from the Poetry Center.

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Our calendar's about
to come in the mail,

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and those events are up on
the Poetry Center's website.

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So there's lots to
look forward to,

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but we're really, really
thrilled to have everybody here

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in this moment and gratitude
to you for being here

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on a Thursday night.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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I'm Tyler.

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I work here as the director
at The Poetry Center.

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There are a couple of events
that still are on the calendar,

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and I want to make sure
you know about them.

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So one of the most exciting
is that on May 6th-- this

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is a Saturday that's
coming up-- at noon,

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here at The Poetry Center, will
be the MFA graduation reading,

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and we really hope that
you'll come for that.

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These are the graduating
members of the MFA program

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here at the
University of Arizona.

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They'll be reading from their
theses and their projects.

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It's going to be great.

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It's always amazing.

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There are poets and writers that
we will hear from in the years

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to come.

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So this is your
chance to catch them

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before Tucson sends
them potentially away,

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and so come join us for that.

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That's May 6th, Saturday,
here at the Poetry Center.

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And then on May 20th, we
have our annual launch

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of the Writing the
Community, the anthology.

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And so Writing the Community
is poets in the schools program

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that happens at
the Poetry Center.

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We work with about 30
Title I classrooms,

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and we place teaching
artists in those classrooms

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for eight weeks at a time.

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So they do a bunch of
work with those students.

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Each student who
participates in that program

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can publish one poem in an
annual citywide anthology,

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and May 20th is
the launch of that.

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And so that will be
here at 9 o'clock

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at the Poetry Center,
which is pretty awesome.

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Some of the readers are this
tall, some are this tall,

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and some are this tall,
and it's a great way

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to see their book and
their work into the world.

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They also-- and they're
pretty excited to sign

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their books for you.

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It's a good day.

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It's an energizing day, and
that'll start at 9 o'clock

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and go for the morning until
we get through those poems

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with those students.

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So that's May 20th back
here at The Poetry Center.

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I mentioned the summer
calendar, anticipate that.

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That's coming very, very soon.

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Books for the reading
tonight are for sale,

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and so Jennifer Elise
Foerster is here

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in Tucson, which
is a great gift.

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We are lucky she's returning to
us, and we're grateful for that

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and excited to have
her back again soon.

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Michael Wasson is
going to be joining us

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from the digital realm.

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So he'll be on the
screen behind us,

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and we're really pleased to
have him in that regard as well.

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Another terrific poet.

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Both of their books are
for sale over on my right,

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and so if you have any
coins in your pocket,

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that's the place to put them.

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Buy those books, and
Jennifer especially,

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would be happy to sign them
afterwards from the reading.

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Michael's going to read first,
and Jennifer will read second.

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I'm really excited to--
this is a partnership.

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So tonight is a presentation
from the Distinguished Visiting

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Writers Series from
the MFA program,

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the creative
writing program here

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at the University of Arizona.

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So these are our colleagues
that teach creative writing

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here at the university.

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Tonight's event has been
organized by our colleague

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and friend Bojan Louis, who
teaches in the creative writing

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program and has a
joint appointment also

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in the American Indian
Studies program.

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He's amazing, and
we're grateful.

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His most recent
book is a collection

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of stories called
"Sinking Bell."

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It is also worth the
coins in your pocket,

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but buy these books first
and that one second.

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I want to welcome up Bojan to
come tell us about the readers.

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Bojan, come on up.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]