--here and good evening.
In the case of poetry, it is necessary
that the artist not only be receptive
to the terrifying irrational language of his or her
imagination, but also to the stutter
of the wild outside world.
To hear these transmissions in their simplicity and profundity
has required, in this century, a concentration and intensity
of a very high order.
Follow this evening, if you will,
what is achieved when that consciousness
is of a high moral order, and of a beauty that
breaks your heart open?
I believe it is only by way of an original style
that we are addressed--
so undressed, and taken deepest into ourselves,
and farthest from ourselves.
Stravinsky, Man Ray, Marquez, Stein, Crane, Stevens, Joyce,
Virginia Woolf--
these are stylists who may well be within Jorie Graham's reach,
as one looks upon her poetic achievement to date.
What they share is that mystery unfolds in their thinking.
Ladies and gentlemen, someone whose friendship
has been, for me, amazing.
Please welcome Jorie Graham.
[APPLAUSE]