WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.090 align:middle line:84% The introduction for this evening 00:00:02.090 --> 00:00:05.030 align:middle line:84% was supposed to be by our Mayor, Regina Romero, 00:00:05.030 --> 00:00:06.530 align:middle line:84% and there's an illness in her family 00:00:06.530 --> 00:00:08.100 align:middle line:90% that she needed to attend to. 00:00:08.100 --> 00:00:10.140 align:middle line:84% And so, as a very poor substitute, 00:00:10.140 --> 00:00:12.060 align:middle line:84% I will be giving the introduction. 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:17.720 align:middle line:84% And the good news is I'm not the mayor, so we're safe. 00:00:17.720 --> 00:00:19.740 align:middle line:84% I'm sticking at the Poetry Center. 00:00:19.740 --> 00:00:22.970 align:middle line:84% But she sent a message to us to share with everyone. 00:00:22.970 --> 00:00:26.100 align:middle line:84% And that message is, and this is, again, the mayor's words, 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:27.920 align:middle line:84% "On behalf of all Tucsonans, I want 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.360 align:middle line:84% to welcome the US Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, 00:00:30.360 --> 00:00:32.310 align:middle line:90% to our beautiful desert city. 00:00:32.310 --> 00:00:36.420 align:middle line:84% Ada's work is a celebration of the beauty of the natural world, 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:40.470 align:middle line:84% grounding us in ways that are both meaningful and urgent. 00:00:40.470 --> 00:00:43.400 align:middle line:84% I look forward to visiting her installation at Saguaro National 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:44.730 align:middle line:90% Park very soon. 00:00:44.730 --> 00:00:46.310 align:middle line:84% My appreciation to the University 00:00:46.310 --> 00:00:48.170 align:middle line:84% of Arizona Poetry Center for bringing us 00:00:48.170 --> 00:00:50.930 align:middle line:84% together and creating opportunities for Tucsonans 00:00:50.930 --> 00:00:54.020 align:middle line:84% to enjoy poetry and to celebrate the work of poets 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:55.350 align:middle line:90% like Ada Limón. 00:00:55.350 --> 00:00:57.810 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Mayor Regina Romero." 00:00:57.810 --> 00:01:00.925 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:00.925 --> 00:01:01.820 align:middle line:90% 00:01:01.820 --> 00:01:04.430 align:middle line:84% I'll be back up after to talk about how the book signing will 00:01:04.430 --> 00:01:07.820 align:middle line:84% work, but it's my great pleasure to just very quickly introduce 00:01:07.820 --> 00:01:11.090 align:middle line:84% the person that we're all here to listen to tonight. 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:14.090 align:middle line:84% And I want to share this, that we couldn't be more thrilled 00:01:14.090 --> 00:01:17.750 align:middle line:84% to have the 24th US Poet Laureate here with us in Tucson 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:18.600 align:middle line:90% tonight. 00:01:18.600 --> 00:01:20.960 align:middle line:84% I have been reading Ada Limón's work 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:23.070 align:middle line:84% for as long as she's been publishing it, 00:01:23.070 --> 00:01:24.960 align:middle line:84% and with enormous joy and pleasure. 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:28.140 align:middle line:84% And while I'm always excited by the newest work, 00:01:28.140 --> 00:01:32.180 align:middle line:84% her voice is one that I turn to and turn to often when I need 00:01:32.180 --> 00:01:35.000 align:middle line:90% something specific from poems. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:36.680 align:middle line:84% And the great poet, Eleanor Wilner, 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:39.830 align:middle line:84% writes that poetry can help us see what is worth 00:01:39.830 --> 00:01:43.530 align:middle line:84% working and fighting against, which, 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:45.840 align:middle line:84% when there is something that needs to be righted, 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:48.720 align:middle line:84% or a right relation that needs to be found again. 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:50.840 align:middle line:84% And this is good, and this is part 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:53.580 align:middle line:84% of the power of a powerful voice. 00:01:53.580 --> 00:01:57.830 align:middle line:84% But Wilner also calls out poets to show us especially 00:01:57.830 --> 00:02:00.930 align:middle line:84% what is worth fighting for, not against, 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.500 align:middle line:84% but what's worth fighting for, and what is worth 00:02:03.500 --> 00:02:06.770 align:middle line:84% protecting and preserving, and what is worth celebrating, 00:02:06.770 --> 00:02:08.490 align:middle line:90% and what is worth growing. 00:02:08.490 --> 00:02:11.390 align:middle line:84% In the blitz of dings, and pops, and TikToks, 00:02:11.390 --> 00:02:14.620 align:middle line:84% and phone calls in the 24-hour news hour cycle that constantly 00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:16.160 align:middle line:90% spins at our fingertips. 00:02:16.160 --> 00:02:20.770 align:middle line:84% Limón's poems remind that the world is so much more 00:02:20.770 --> 00:02:22.840 align:middle line:84% than the rectangle of a Zoom call, 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:26.170 align:middle line:84% or the phantom touch of a phone screen. 00:02:26.170 --> 00:02:30.830 align:middle line:84% If poetry really is a preserve for the imagination, 00:02:30.830 --> 00:02:34.540 align:middle line:84% like a National Park, a place where wildness is still 00:02:34.540 --> 00:02:37.060 align:middle line:84% possible, and friends, I really believe 00:02:37.060 --> 00:02:41.530 align:middle line:84% that it is, that we really need this wildness 00:02:41.530 --> 00:02:45.200 align:middle line:84% more than ever in the future that we are barreling towards. 00:02:45.200 --> 00:02:49.040 align:middle line:84% I want to deeply thank Ada for her stunning work, 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:53.020 align:middle line:84% for making poems where we can take our imaginations to be 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:54.770 align:middle line:90% alive and to be free. 00:02:54.770 --> 00:02:56.680 align:middle line:84% Please help me welcome Ada Limón. 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:00.030 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:21.000 align:middle line:90%