WEBVTT

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And the Milliman Distinguished
Writer-in-Residence

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at the University of Washington
in Seattle for the past decade.

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She's been a visiting
faculty member

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at the MFA program
at Warren Wilson

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since that program
began and has had

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many other distinguished
academic appointments.

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In addition to her
poetry, she has

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published collections
of translations

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of the work of Jean Follain,
and with her husband, Niko Boris

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McHugh, poems by--

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I don't know how to
pronounce this, Heather--

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Blaga Dimitrova and Paul Celan.

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Bad, right?

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Oh, OK.

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Good.

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For over 25 years,
Heather McHugh

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has entered the house of poetry
through the door of language,

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using puns and
wordplay, word splices,

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splits, reversals, and
inversions to snap herself

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and the reader awake.

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Hers is a poetry of wit,
wildness, and intelligence,

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which went through a deepening
transformation in the '80s when

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she addressed the loss of
a loved one to AIDS in her

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stunning collection, Shades.

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Since then her poetry has
increasingly found its subject

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in death, to the extent
that in her new work,

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she can make an
occurrence as remote

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as the death of Socrates
affectingly personal and utterly

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fresh.

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Please welcome Heather McHugh.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you.

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