WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.610 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.610 --> 00:00:05.190 align:middle line:84% --but I'm lucky because I get to be 00:00:05.190 --> 00:00:07.620 align:middle line:84% in the orbit of the Poetry Center, 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:10.290 align:middle line:90% the Poetry Center has built me. 00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:13.110 align:middle line:84% So for the past three days, there's 00:00:13.110 --> 00:00:16.860 align:middle line:84% been a mystery at the Poetry Center. 00:00:16.860 --> 00:00:21.120 align:middle line:84% There's not always mysteries to solve at the Poetry Center. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.740 align:middle line:84% Aria, Paola, Tyler, Sarah, and Julie 00:00:25.740 --> 00:00:30.330 align:middle line:84% are not Sherlock Holmes, or Cagney and Lacey, 00:00:30.330 --> 00:00:32.850 align:middle line:90% or maybe they are. 00:00:32.850 --> 00:00:37.380 align:middle line:84% Edgar Kunz's fantastic, sharp, witty book of poems Fixer, 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:40.540 align:middle line:84% is in the Poetry library across from us. 00:00:40.540 --> 00:00:44.370 align:middle line:84% But the Poetry Center has probably the most unique copy 00:00:44.370 --> 00:00:49.440 align:middle line:84% of Fixer that exists, for there are two pages that 00:00:49.440 --> 00:00:52.050 align:middle line:90% seem cut out and pasted-- 00:00:52.050 --> 00:00:55.770 align:middle line:84% pasted on in what I can only describe as if you were reading 00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:59.640 align:middle line:84% a pop-out out book, and there is a fence that sort of comes off 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:02.220 align:middle line:90% the page in a 3D effect. 00:01:02.220 --> 00:01:04.879 align:middle line:84% But in the internal debates at the Poetry Center, 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.220 align:middle line:84% it was noted that there was a homemade quality 00:01:07.220 --> 00:01:09.980 align:middle line:84% to these pages, as if someone had torn out the pages 00:01:09.980 --> 00:01:13.260 align:middle line:90% and then tried to fix them. 00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:15.540 align:middle line:90% When Edgar arrived yesterday-- 00:01:15.540 --> 00:01:17.460 align:middle line:84% you should check it out, go see the book. 00:01:17.460 --> 00:01:20.980 align:middle line:84% It's strange, it's weird, it's a very strange copy of this book. 00:01:20.980 --> 00:01:23.910 align:middle line:84% So when Edgar arrived yesterday, the mystery was solved, 00:01:23.910 --> 00:01:28.890 align:middle line:84% the Poetry Center's copy is an anomaly, a printing error. 00:01:28.890 --> 00:01:32.640 align:middle line:84% Printing error or not, you should buy a copy of Fixer 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.190 align:middle line:84% or Tap Out, his first collection, 00:01:35.190 --> 00:01:40.080 align:middle line:84% because there is a working class magic in Edgar's poems. 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:41.940 align:middle line:84% And then you can compare this magic 00:01:41.940 --> 00:01:44.520 align:middle line:84% to the wild copy the Poetry Center has-- 00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:49.740 align:middle line:84% or, even better yet-- perhaps among that small hill of books, 00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:53.310 align:middle line:84% there's one other copy of Fixer floating around 00:01:53.310 --> 00:01:56.310 align:middle line:84% in this bunch of books that also has a printing error. 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.100 align:middle line:84% And it would be like finding a golden ticket 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:03.450 align:middle line:84% or winning $500 in a scratch-off lotto ticket. 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:06.180 align:middle line:84% Reading Edgar Kunz's poems is a lot 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:10.710 align:middle line:84% like winning $500 in a scratch-off lotto ticket. 00:02:10.710 --> 00:02:15.400 align:middle line:84% These are poems about what it's like to live now in 2024-- 00:02:15.400 --> 00:02:18.370 align:middle line:84% working odd jobs to get by, streaming 00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:21.910 align:middle line:84% a radio station on your phone, and questions 00:02:21.910 --> 00:02:25.390 align:middle line:84% about the oncoming god-like technology 00:02:25.390 --> 00:02:26.945 align:middle line:90% that was already god-like. 00:02:26.945 --> 00:02:29.320 align:middle line:84% A poem in his new book titled, "WillRobotsTakeMyJob.Com". 00:02:29.320 --> 00:02:32.960 align:middle line:90% 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:37.730 align:middle line:84% Edgar is writing about topics that concern us now, in 2024. 00:02:37.730 --> 00:02:39.950 align:middle line:84% In an interview with The Rumpus, Edgar 00:02:39.950 --> 00:02:42.140 align:middle line:84% was asked if he knows his subject 00:02:42.140 --> 00:02:44.930 align:middle line:84% or what the poem is about before he writes it, 00:02:44.930 --> 00:02:47.540 align:middle line:84% and he says, "I've never been able to make 00:02:47.540 --> 00:02:52.370 align:middle line:84% any poem worthwhile by plotting it out and being methodical. 00:02:52.370 --> 00:02:54.410 align:middle line:90% I have to let the poem steer. 00:02:54.410 --> 00:02:56.540 align:middle line:84% It starts with an image or an idea 00:02:56.540 --> 00:02:58.810 align:middle line:90% or a little piece of language." 00:02:58.810 --> 00:03:01.630 align:middle line:84% This is such great advice, and the fantastic results 00:03:01.630 --> 00:03:04.960 align:middle line:84% are evident in Edgar's poems because every one 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:07.030 align:middle line:90% is a winner and a stunner-- 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:09.940 align:middle line:84% expertly crafted rhythm and lyric-- 00:03:09.940 --> 00:03:12.880 align:middle line:84% filled with surprise, family heartbreak, 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:15.430 align:middle line:90% capitalistic heartbreak. 00:03:15.430 --> 00:03:18.610 align:middle line:84% These poems, as he says in that same Rumpus interview, 00:03:18.610 --> 00:03:20.590 align:middle line:90% are how he is living-- 00:03:20.590 --> 00:03:23.470 align:middle line:84% and what a thrill it is to live along 00:03:23.470 --> 00:03:26.810 align:middle line:84% with him in these poems, and singing at the top of my lungs, 00:03:26.810 --> 00:03:31.120 align:middle line:84% "Jump in the line, rock your body in time." 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:34.240 align:middle line:90% OK, I believe you, Edgar. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:37.990 align:middle line:84% These poems rock, and I'm so happy the Tucson community gets 00:03:37.990 --> 00:03:39.760 align:middle line:90% to experience them. 00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:42.310 align:middle line:84% Edgar Kunz is the author of two poetry collections, most 00:03:42.310 --> 00:03:46.150 align:middle line:84% recently Fixer, Ecco 2023, which was a New York Times 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:49.180 align:middle line:84% new and noteworthy pick that was described by the Washington 00:03:49.180 --> 00:03:52.600 align:middle line:84% Post as a gritty, insightful debut. 00:03:52.600 --> 00:03:55.090 align:middle line:84% He has been a National Endowment for the Arts fellow, 00:03:55.090 --> 00:03:57.550 align:middle line:84% a MacDowell fellow, and a Wallace Stegner fellow 00:03:57.550 --> 00:03:59.060 align:middle line:90% at Stanford University. 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:02.300 align:middle line:84% His work appears in the New Yorker, The Atlantic Poetry, 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:04.340 align:middle line:90% and American Poetry Review. 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:08.900 align:middle line:84% Diane Seuss, author of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winning book, 00:04:08.900 --> 00:04:12.500 align:middle line:84% frank: sonnets, called Edgar's latest collection, 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:14.780 align:middle line:90% Fixer, a masterpiece. 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.270 align:middle line:84% Please help me in welcoming Edgar Kunz. 00:04:17.270 --> 00:04:18.820 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:18.820 --> 00:04:21.000 align:middle line:90%