OK.
So I will be reading to you tonight
from my book of poems called Standing
in the Forest of Being Alive.
And it will be an exciting time for all of us,
because you have a selection of poems
that will appear on the screen before me and to my side.
But in point of fact, I could not find which poems they are.
So we will-- I will be learning right alongside of you tonight.
[LAUGHTER]
I put it in a place where I would be sure to find it.
[LAUGHTER]
That's always a good idea, right?
[LAUGHS] So this is called "Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning
World."
"Why Write Love Poetry in a Burning World."
"To train myself to find in the midst of hell
What isn't hell.
The body bald
Cancerous but still
Beautiful enough to
Imagine living the body
Washing the body
Replacing a loose front
Porch step the body chewing
What it takes to keep a body going--
This scene has a tune
A language I can read a door
I cannot close I stand
Within its wedge
A shield.
Why write love poetry in a burning world?
To train myself in the midst of a burning world
To offer poems of love to a burning world."