WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.370 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.370 --> 00:00:03.572 align:middle line:90% Sorry. 00:00:03.572 --> 00:00:05.570 align:middle line:84% I think this is kind of low for my shoes. 00:00:05.570 --> 00:00:09.210 align:middle line:90% 00:00:09.210 --> 00:00:11.060 align:middle line:90% I'm Ann Dernier. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:12.395 align:middle line:90% I'm going to introduce July. 00:00:12.395 --> 00:00:16.652 align:middle line:90% 00:00:16.652 --> 00:00:17.735 align:middle line:90% We're so glad you're here. 00:00:17.735 --> 00:00:20.450 align:middle line:90% 00:00:20.450 --> 00:00:23.330 align:middle line:84% July's collection, Trailer Trash, 00:00:23.330 --> 00:00:26.450 align:middle line:84% won the Kore Press First Book Award 00:00:26.450 --> 00:00:29.270 align:middle line:90% chosen by Robin Coste Lewis. 00:00:29.270 --> 00:00:33.880 align:middle line:84% And here is some of what Robin had to say. 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:36.750 align:middle line:84% "When I read the title of this collection, I'll admit it, 00:00:36.750 --> 00:00:40.650 align:middle line:84% I didn't want to read it, I thought, obnoxiously, 00:00:40.650 --> 00:00:45.030 align:middle line:84% that I knew what I would find before turning its page. 00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:48.540 align:middle line:84% I was wholly unprepared for the exceptional skill 00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:50.430 align:middle line:84% and aesthetic courage I encountered 00:00:50.430 --> 00:00:52.410 align:middle line:90% when I opened the book. 00:00:52.410 --> 00:00:57.930 align:middle line:84% July Westhale constantly creates unfamiliar constructions 00:00:57.930 --> 00:01:01.590 align:middle line:84% that run back and forth between that pole 00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:08.430 align:middle line:84% of both exquisite and horrifying with courageous agility. 00:01:08.430 --> 00:01:13.020 align:middle line:84% July lives in Oakland, California and is in Tucson 00:01:13.020 --> 00:01:17.670 align:middle line:84% because she is the 2018 University of Arizona Poetry 00:01:17.670 --> 00:01:20.820 align:middle line:90% Center Fellow. 00:01:20.820 --> 00:01:25.830 align:middle line:84% She is the author of The Cavalcade, a poetry chapbook, 00:01:25.830 --> 00:01:30.000 align:middle line:84% Occasionally Accurate Science, a children's book. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:33.690 align:middle line:84% And while here at the center cottage, 00:01:33.690 --> 00:01:35.460 align:middle line:84% she has put the finishing touches 00:01:35.460 --> 00:01:38.310 align:middle line:84% on a new collection of poetry that she's also 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:39.435 align:middle line:90% going to read from tonight. 00:01:39.435 --> 00:01:42.270 align:middle line:90% 00:01:42.270 --> 00:01:45.210 align:middle line:84% July's poems have been published for our forthcoming 00:01:45.210 --> 00:01:48.540 align:middle line:84% in Zocalo Public Square, The National Poetry 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:54.540 align:middle line:84% Review, Prairie Schooner, Tupelo Quarterly to name a few. 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:58.860 align:middle line:84% Her essays have been nominated for Best American Essays 00:01:58.860 --> 00:02:03.600 align:middle line:84% and have appeared in McSweeney's Autostraddle and The Huffington 00:02:03.600 --> 00:02:05.800 align:middle line:90% Post. 00:02:05.800 --> 00:02:11.170 align:middle line:84% July is a teacher, an essayist, a journalist, a health care 00:02:11.170 --> 00:02:16.750 align:middle line:84% advocate, and a single-handed fan club of every person 00:02:16.750 --> 00:02:21.700 align:middle line:84% she admires, which you'll discover at her bad-ass Crush 00:02:21.700 --> 00:02:27.370 align:middle line:84% Friday feature on her web page, where she posts interviews 00:02:27.370 --> 00:02:31.120 align:middle line:90% with her crush of the week. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.585 align:middle line:84% And you should know she has a thing for LeVar Burton. 00:02:34.585 --> 00:02:38.080 align:middle line:90% 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:43.030 align:middle line:84% Trailer Trash begins with a racial slur, like a dare. 00:02:43.030 --> 00:02:46.360 align:middle line:84% From that title to the very last poem, 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:49.390 align:middle line:90% it dares us to look inside. 00:02:49.390 --> 00:02:53.470 align:middle line:84% It dares us to see where poems come from. 00:02:53.470 --> 00:02:58.780 align:middle line:84% It dares us to see what poems are made of. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:04.000 align:middle line:84% In his poem, "Ars Poetica," Czeslaw Milosz wrote, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.370 align:middle line:84% the purpose of poetry is to remind us how difficult it is 00:03:09.370 --> 00:03:14.810 align:middle line:84% to remain just one person, for our house is open. 00:03:14.810 --> 00:03:17.020 align:middle line:90% There are no keys in the doors. 00:03:17.020 --> 00:03:21.820 align:middle line:84% And invisible guests come in and out at will. 00:03:21.820 --> 00:03:27.130 align:middle line:84% Trailer Trash begins with July's ars poetica. 00:03:27.130 --> 00:03:30.100 align:middle line:84% In it, she writes, one would like 00:03:30.100 --> 00:03:34.480 align:middle line:84% to see oneself walking through the forest as two girls. 00:03:34.480 --> 00:03:38.650 align:middle line:84% For her, the craft of poetry requires 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:41.140 align:middle line:90% silencing the hooded girl. 00:03:41.140 --> 00:03:45.310 align:middle line:84% It requires retrieving the basket. 00:03:45.310 --> 00:03:47.740 align:middle line:90% Ghosts come and go at will. 00:03:47.740 --> 00:03:49.960 align:middle line:90% The locks remain open. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.740 align:middle line:84% Worship can take place in a storage shed, 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:57.010 align:middle line:90% that chapel of untouchables. 00:03:57.010 --> 00:04:00.730 align:middle line:84% Hymns are played on a common saw, 00:04:00.730 --> 00:04:05.200 align:middle line:84% and all hovels must have their saints. 00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:08.110 align:middle line:90% Never be ashamed, she says. 00:04:08.110 --> 00:04:10.240 align:middle line:90% Come in, she says. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:15.670 align:middle line:84% You are a kind and forgiving reader seeking truth. 00:04:15.670 --> 00:04:18.680 align:middle line:90% But don't take my word for it. 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:20.680 align:middle line:90% Please welcome July Westhale. 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:22.530 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]