WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.460 align:middle line:84% We decided we could either ignore it, 00:00:02.460 --> 00:00:04.590 align:middle line:84% because everyone's sick of the "M" word, 00:00:04.590 --> 00:00:06.660 align:middle line:84% or we could do something about it. 00:00:06.660 --> 00:00:09.180 align:middle line:84% And we decided to use it as an occasion 00:00:09.180 --> 00:00:12.360 align:middle line:84% to pay a little more attention to talking 00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:14.820 align:middle line:84% about the state of the art of poetry 00:00:14.820 --> 00:00:18.600 align:middle line:84% and ask some visitors to help us think about that. 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.290 align:middle line:84% So we came up with the idea of a series called Poetry 00:00:22.290 --> 00:00:25.020 align:middle line:84% Now and Next, in which we invited 00:00:25.020 --> 00:00:27.750 align:middle line:84% six distinguished poets, who've not only 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:30.030 align:middle line:84% made an important mark in American writing 00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:32.580 align:middle line:84% through their published works, but have also 00:00:32.580 --> 00:00:34.860 align:middle line:84% contributed in very dramatic ways 00:00:34.860 --> 00:00:37.230 align:middle line:90% to helping other writers along. 00:00:37.230 --> 00:00:42.240 align:middle line:84% We know that in addition to the individual inspiration 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:44.850 align:middle line:84% and discipline that it takes to become a writer, 00:00:44.850 --> 00:00:48.510 align:middle line:84% it also takes influence, connection, friendship, 00:00:48.510 --> 00:00:49.830 align:middle line:90% and relationship. 00:00:49.830 --> 00:00:53.580 align:middle line:84% So we asked the six writers to select younger writers. 00:00:53.580 --> 00:00:56.310 align:middle line:84% And we've had the great pleasure of making 00:00:56.310 --> 00:00:59.430 align:middle line:84% some wonderful discoveries in the process of organizing 00:00:59.430 --> 00:01:01.200 align:middle line:90% this series. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.420 align:middle line:84% And that's how we happen to be able to offer you 00:01:03.420 --> 00:01:06.179 align:middle line:84% tonight, Gary Soto, who many of you know, 00:01:06.179 --> 00:01:09.360 align:middle line:84% and Rigoberto Gonzalez, who many of you do not know. 00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:12.300 align:middle line:84% But you will be very happy that you do after tonight. 00:01:12.300 --> 00:01:14.820 align:middle line:90% 00:01:14.820 --> 00:01:18.370 align:middle line:84% Rigoberto Gonzalez was born in Bakersfield, California 00:01:18.370 --> 00:01:22.260 align:middle line:84% and raised in Michoacán, Mexico, the son and grandson 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:24.810 align:middle line:90% of migrant farm workers. 00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:28.600 align:middle line:84% He received a BA in Humanities from UC Riverside, 00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:32.970 align:middle line:84% an MA in English from UC Davis, and an MFA in Creative 00:01:32.970 --> 00:01:36.240 align:middle line:90% Writing from ASU in Tempe. 00:01:36.240 --> 00:01:39.780 align:middle line:84% He currently works as a literacy teacher for children 00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:42.570 align:middle line:84% in Brooklyn, New York, as well as 00:01:42.570 --> 00:01:46.440 align:middle line:84% teaching beginning Spanish to adults in New York City. 00:01:46.440 --> 00:01:48.330 align:middle line:84% His poetry and fiction have appeared 00:01:48.330 --> 00:01:52.140 align:middle line:84% in many distinguished journals, The Americas Review, Analecta, 00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:54.690 align:middle line:84% James White Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, 00:01:54.690 --> 00:01:59.130 align:middle line:84% among others, and in the anthologies, Besame Mucho: 00:01:59.130 --> 00:02:02.910 align:middle line:84% New Gay Latino Fiction, The Geography of Home: 00:02:02.910 --> 00:02:07.500 align:middle line:84% California's Poetry of Place, and The Floating Borderlands: 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:10.949 align:middle line:84% 25 Years of US Hispanic Literature. 00:02:10.949 --> 00:02:13.680 align:middle line:84% He's published two limited edition chapbooks, 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:20.680 align:middle line:84% Skins Preserve Us from Agitator Dogs Press, and The Night-- 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:24.450 align:middle line:84% it's a great-- don't you love the names of these presses. 00:02:24.450 --> 00:02:26.970 align:middle line:84% --and The Night Don Pedro Buried His Best 00:02:26.970 --> 00:02:31.140 align:middle line:84% Friend the Rooster published by Gary Soto in his Chicano 00:02:31.140 --> 00:02:32.430 align:middle line:90% Chapbook Series. 00:02:32.430 --> 00:02:37.470 align:middle line:84% His book, So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water Until It Breaks, 00:02:37.470 --> 00:02:40.740 align:middle line:84% was selected by the poet Ai as winner 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:43.560 align:middle line:84% of the prestigious National Poetry Series 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:46.860 align:middle line:84% and published by the University of Illinois Press. 00:02:46.860 --> 00:02:48.930 align:middle line:84% He has a new book of poems that will also 00:02:48.930 --> 00:02:52.530 align:middle line:90% come out from that press. 00:02:52.530 --> 00:02:55.230 align:middle line:84% So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water 00:02:55.230 --> 00:02:58.560 align:middle line:84% Until It Breaks invites the reader 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:03.270 align:middle line:84% into a strange constellation of characters living 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:07.980 align:middle line:84% on both sides of the border, who practice what Sandra 00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:10.890 align:middle line:84% McPherson calls "almost mystically 00:03:10.890 --> 00:03:15.090 align:middle line:84% odd professions," the professional mourner, 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:19.500 align:middle line:84% the exhibitionist umbrella salesman, the sidewalk 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:25.110 align:middle line:84% preacher, the worker in a Mexican border doll factory, 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:29.640 align:middle line:84% the refrigerator salesman, I mean repairman, the mortician, 00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:34.320 align:middle line:84% and I think the one that I found utterly compelling, the man 00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:36.780 align:middle line:90% who gives you nightmares. 00:03:36.780 --> 00:03:39.930 align:middle line:84% As this cast of characters suggests, 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:45.000 align:middle line:84% there is no protection in these poems from hardship, 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:48.120 align:middle line:90% inner struggle, and death. 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.510 align:middle line:84% And yet, the spirit of the poems is 00:03:51.510 --> 00:03:56.190 align:middle line:84% so bright with sensual detail and so 00:03:56.190 --> 00:04:00.840 align:middle line:84% loving in its emotional insights that the characters 00:04:00.840 --> 00:04:05.970 align:middle line:84% lose their strangeness in the depth of portrayal. 00:04:05.970 --> 00:04:10.050 align:middle line:84% And the reader feels consoled by facing 00:04:10.050 --> 00:04:13.260 align:middle line:90% life's spiritual challenges. 00:04:13.260 --> 00:04:19.260 align:middle line:84% And that, of course, is the age-old power of poetry 00:04:19.260 --> 00:04:22.890 align:middle line:90% to transcend and transform. 00:04:22.890 --> 00:04:25.740 align:middle line:84% Please welcome Rigoberto Gonzalez. 00:04:25.740 --> 00:04:28.490 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:28.490 --> 00:04:39.000 align:middle line:90%