WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.330 align:middle line:84% Thank you Alison for that lovely introduction. 00:00:03.330 --> 00:00:07.050 align:middle line:84% And it's a great pleasure to be here. 00:00:07.050 --> 00:00:10.410 align:middle line:84% When one says something like that, 00:00:10.410 --> 00:00:14.040 align:middle line:84% it's pure self-indulgence, because nobody in front of me 00:00:14.040 --> 00:00:16.140 align:middle line:84% realizes what you're talking about, 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.540 align:middle line:84% because they don't remember the other occasions 00:00:18.540 --> 00:00:20.730 align:middle line:90% when you've been there. 00:00:20.730 --> 00:00:25.050 align:middle line:84% But there have been many happy visits to Tucson 00:00:25.050 --> 00:00:27.630 align:middle line:90% going back to the 60s. 00:00:27.630 --> 00:00:29.130 align:middle line:90% And I remember them all fondly. 00:00:29.130 --> 00:00:31.750 align:middle line:90% 00:00:31.750 --> 00:00:34.050 align:middle line:84% I have a number of dear friends here 00:00:34.050 --> 00:00:36.075 align:middle line:90% that were formed that long ago. 00:00:36.075 --> 00:00:38.900 align:middle line:90% 00:00:38.900 --> 00:00:44.070 align:middle line:84% I want to do something tonight, and I don't know at all, 00:00:44.070 --> 00:00:46.970 align:middle line:90% whether it works. 00:00:46.970 --> 00:00:51.670 align:middle line:84% Alison has been telling you about The Folding Cliffs. 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:54.010 align:middle line:90% And it's a-- 00:00:54.010 --> 00:00:58.820 align:middle line:84% I want to read as much as I can to make sense 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:00.800 align:middle line:90% of that story to you tonight. 00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:03.350 align:middle line:90% But it's the length of a novel. 00:01:03.350 --> 00:01:05.900 align:middle line:90% It's 300 pages. 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:07.910 align:middle line:84% And obviously, I'm not going to read-- 00:01:07.910 --> 00:01:09.560 align:middle line:90% you needn't worry about that. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.350 align:middle line:90% [AUDIENCE LAUGHING] 00:01:12.350 --> 00:01:14.690 align:middle line:90% I'm not going to read 300 pages. 00:01:14.690 --> 00:01:20.750 align:middle line:84% But I've been asked to read some earlier poems before I 00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:22.760 align:middle line:90% do "The Folding Cliffs." 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:28.370 align:middle line:84% So I start with a few but only a very few earlier poems and then 00:01:28.370 --> 00:01:30.650 align:middle line:90% go on to "The Folding Cliffs." 00:01:30.650 --> 00:01:36.930 align:middle line:84% It's-- as Alison has told you, it's not even officially out 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:37.430 align:middle line:90% yet. 00:01:37.430 --> 00:01:39.920 align:middle line:84% Although what-- with publishing practices now, 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.390 align:middle line:90% you don't know what that means. 00:01:41.390 --> 00:01:43.430 align:middle line:84% The pub date is October 13, but there 00:01:43.430 --> 00:01:45.440 align:middle line:84% have been books in existence since the beginning 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:46.670 align:middle line:90% of September. 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:52.050 align:middle line:84% And-- but it is-- it is that recent, and-- 00:01:52.050 --> 00:01:55.520 align:middle line:84% and it's obviously it had something that nobody quite 00:01:55.520 --> 00:01:59.120 align:middle line:90% expected, including me, so. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:03.290 align:middle line:84% But I want to start with a few earlier poems 00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:05.360 align:middle line:90% that I've been asked to read. 00:02:05.360 --> 00:02:11.039 align:middle line:84% And one of them is a poem called "Yesterday." 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:15.590 align:middle line:84% It goes back to an earlier book that's 00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:21.260 align:middle line:84% in this novel reprinted in a volume called "Flower in Hand" 00:02:21.260 --> 00:02:23.450 align:middle line:90% by Copper Canyon. 00:02:23.450 --> 00:02:24.470 align:middle line:90% "Yesterday." 00:02:24.470 --> 00:02:27.880 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.880 --> 00:02:32.530 align:middle line:84% "My friend says, I was not a good son, you understand. 00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:36.460 align:middle line:90% I say, yes, I understand. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:41.320 align:middle line:84% He says, I did not go to see my parents very often, you know. 00:02:41.320 --> 00:02:45.460 align:middle line:90% And I say yes, I know. 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:47.590 align:middle line:84% Even when I was living in the same city, 00:02:47.590 --> 00:02:53.230 align:middle line:84% he says, maybe I would go there once a month or maybe even less. 00:02:53.230 --> 00:02:56.560 align:middle line:90% I say, oh, yes. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.410 align:middle line:84% He says the last time I went to see my father-- 00:02:59.410 --> 00:03:02.050 align:middle line:84% I say, the last time I saw my father, 00:03:02.050 --> 00:03:04.480 align:middle line:84% he says the last time I saw my father, 00:03:04.480 --> 00:03:08.260 align:middle line:84% he was asking me about my life, how I was making out. 00:03:08.260 --> 00:03:12.520 align:middle line:84% And he went into the next room to get something to give me. 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:16.960 align:middle line:84% Oh, I say, feeling again the cold of my father's hand 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.480 align:middle line:90% the last time. 00:03:19.480 --> 00:03:22.330 align:middle line:84% He says, my father turned in the doorway 00:03:22.330 --> 00:03:24.430 align:middle line:84% and saw me look at my wristwatch. 00:03:24.430 --> 00:03:26.290 align:middle line:84% And he said, you know, I would like 00:03:26.290 --> 00:03:29.510 align:middle line:90% you to stay and talk with me. 00:03:29.510 --> 00:03:32.370 align:middle line:90% Oh, yes, I say. 00:03:32.370 --> 00:03:34.520 align:middle line:84% But if you are busy, he said, I don't 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:38.870 align:middle line:84% want you to feel that you have to just because I'm here. 00:03:38.870 --> 00:03:41.450 align:middle line:90% I say nothing. 00:03:41.450 --> 00:03:43.730 align:middle line:84% He says, my father said, maybe you 00:03:43.730 --> 00:03:45.860 align:middle line:84% have important work you were doing. 00:03:45.860 --> 00:03:48.110 align:middle line:84% Or maybe you should be seeing somebody. 00:03:48.110 --> 00:03:50.800 align:middle line:90% I don't want to keep you. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.170 align:middle line:90% I looked out the window. 00:03:53.170 --> 00:03:56.060 align:middle line:90% My friend is older than I am. 00:03:56.060 --> 00:03:59.740 align:middle line:84% He says, and I told my father it was so, 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:03.960 align:middle line:84% and I got up and left him then, you know. 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:09.320 align:middle line:84% There was nowhere I had to go and nothing I had to do." 00:04:09.320 --> 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