[APPLAUSE]
I am so small.
I'm so grateful for that intro.
I'm so grateful for Tucson, the Poetry Center, for poetry.
As Farid was speaking, this beautiful beetle
just landed on my shoulder.
And I have to share with you, I was actually
terrified of that beetle when I was a child.
But there's something different.
Perhaps it's the desert, perhaps it's
the monsoon that arrived as Tyler and Paola left me
in the apartment.
Perhaps it's time to read to you all.
I'm going to be reading from all of my works,
including a book that I said I would never read from again,
called, "Black Lavender Milk" which started this whole thing.
I'll also be reading new work, because the moon has a lot
to say to you.
And last night I took dictation.
I don't know how to explain to you all what it means
to be a poet in the world.
I don't know how to explain to you all
what it means to have this time and space, to work on new work,
to work on being alive, to build a future together.