[APPLAUSE]
The freedom that a poet experiences
is enchanted and radiant.
A poem may go anywhere and stop at nothing.
I don't know of any poet who enters the majestic and empty
space of a poem with more wonder, trust, and urgency
than Brenda Hillman.
The freedom of the poet can be misunderstood in any culture,
at any time.
A poem is not a license but rather an escape or a release.
But in what direction?
Toward you.
And from what must a poet be released?
From imitation, from conformity.
In any age, control over print may
be within reach of the state.
We need fearless poets, but we have too few of them.
In the poetry of Brenda Hillman, nothing's off-limits.
Nothing's preordained.
Because of her knowledge of nature,
of literary history and theory, because she's
idealistic and possessed, idealistic and possessed, [LAUGHTER] her poems her poems
are bounded by forms that arise out of the making itself.
And they're deeply moving poems, tender, funny, charming,
demanding.
They remind us of poetry's origin in the emotions.
It may seem that Brenda Hillman is forever changing
the subject in her poetry.
And you may find yourself changing with her because that
is what we are here for.
In a poem that Brenda and her mother Helen translated,
Ana Cristina César calls herself a recording angel.
Please join me in welcoming Brenda Hillman
on the night of this beautiful full moon, our recording
angel, back home to Tucson.
[APPLAUSE]