--but I'm lucky because I get to be
in the orbit of the Poetry Center,
the Poetry Center has built me.
So for the past three days, there's
been a mystery at the Poetry Center.
There's not always mysteries to solve at the Poetry Center.
Aria, Paola, Tyler, Sarah, and Julie
are not Sherlock Holmes, or Cagney and Lacey,
or maybe they are.
Edgar Kunz's fantastic, sharp, witty book of poems Fixer,
is in the Poetry library across from us.
But the Poetry Center has probably the most unique copy
of Fixer that exists, for there are two pages that
seem cut out and pasted--
pasted on in what I can only describe as if you were reading
a pop-out out book, and there is a fence that sort of comes off
the page in a 3D effect.
But in the internal debates at the Poetry Center,
it was noted that there was a homemade quality
to these pages, as if someone had torn out the pages
and then tried to fix them.
When Edgar arrived yesterday--
you should check it out, go see the book.
It's strange, it's weird, it's a very strange copy of this book.
So when Edgar arrived yesterday, the mystery was solved,
the Poetry Center's copy is an anomaly, a printing error.
Printing error or not, you should buy a copy of Fixer
or Tap Out, his first collection,
because there is a working class magic in Edgar's poems.
And then you can compare this magic
to the wild copy the Poetry Center has--
or, even better yet-- perhaps among that small hill of books,
there's one other copy of Fixer floating around
in this bunch of books that also has a printing error.
And it would be like finding a golden ticket
or winning $500 in a scratch-off lotto ticket.
Reading Edgar Kunz's poems is a lot
like winning $500 in a scratch-off lotto ticket.
These are poems about what it's like to live now in 2024--
working odd jobs to get by, streaming
a radio station on your phone, and questions
about the oncoming god-like technology
that was already god-like.
A poem in his new book titled, "WillRobotsTakeMyJob.Com".
Edgar is writing about topics that concern us now, in 2024.
In an interview with The Rumpus, Edgar
was asked if he knows his subject
or what the poem is about before he writes it,
and he says, "I've never been able to make
any poem worthwhile by plotting it out and being methodical.
I have to let the poem steer.
It starts with an image or an idea
or a little piece of language."
This is such great advice, and the fantastic results
are evident in Edgar's poems because every one
is a winner and a stunner--
expertly crafted rhythm and lyric--
filled with surprise, family heartbreak,
capitalistic heartbreak.
These poems, as he says in that same Rumpus interview,
are how he is living--
and what a thrill it is to live along
with him in these poems, and singing at the top of my lungs,
"Jump in the line, rock your body in time."
OK, I believe you, Edgar.
These poems rock, and I'm so happy the Tucson community gets
to experience them.
Edgar Kunz is the author of two poetry collections, most
recently Fixer, Ecco 2023, which was a New York Times
new and noteworthy pick that was described by the Washington
Post as a gritty, insightful debut.
He has been a National Endowment for the Arts fellow,
a MacDowell fellow, and a Wallace Stegner fellow
at Stanford University.
His work appears in the New Yorker, The Atlantic Poetry,
and American Poetry Review.
Diane Seuss, author of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning book,
frank: sonnets, called Edgar's latest collection,
Fixer, a masterpiece.
Please help me in welcoming Edgar Kunz.
[APPLAUSE]