One of the things that I really love is feedback.
One of the things I really love--
well, maybe a little more.
One of the things I love about teaching at this MFA program
is it doesn't really have an aesthetic.
You can see such a range of voices
and like ideas about essays and poetry and being a writer
that I just like--
it blows me away to hear you all tonight.
Fantastic.
And I know you're all wondering what class
our last adventurer of the night, Margo Steines,
is: a barbarian, a fierce warrior who can enter a battle
rage, unbridled, unquenchable, the unrelenting
assault of a storm, the churning turmoil of the sea--
like Brutalities, her first, surprisingly unbarbaric book,
well, mostly unbarbaric.
I mean, it's kind of mostly restrained and able
to look at self, even if it hurts.
But you can see that other something,
a power simmering way down there below the finely
crafted sentences.
And full disclosure, some people are absolutely,
definitely getting punched in the face.
So this is not a book for the weak.
Barbarians like Margo draw from a well of primal physicality,
have uncanny reflexes and an eye for the deeply weird territories
of the human body, and the even less knowable
realms of the mind.
Barbarians are known for their power, their endurance,
and their artful interiority, and are
known to perform great feats of essaying, strength,
and human caring.
They thrive in the wilds of their homelands, Hawaii,
New York, Tucson, the human body, the human family,
the steely, elegant, ferocious sentence.
Inside every settled self of a barbarian,
however, there is a storm.
Her primary ability is strength, but also wisdom.
I would suggest you do not piss her off.
Please welcome Margo Steines.