WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.400 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.400 --> 00:00:04.700 align:middle line:84%
Lastly, the very
terrific poet, essayist,

00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:08.480 align:middle line:84%
scientist Katherine Larson was
slated to come and introduce

00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:09.360 align:middle line:90%
both of these poets.

00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:12.530 align:middle line:84%
And she has lots of affinity
and affection for both of them.

00:00:12.530 --> 00:00:14.480 align:middle line:84%
She has had a family
emergency, so she's not

00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:15.660 align:middle line:90%
able to be here tonight.

00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:18.230 align:middle line:84%
She did send me
the introductions

00:00:18.230 --> 00:00:19.440 align:middle line:90%
that she had prepared.

00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.550 align:middle line:84%
So I will be giving a
very d-minus version

00:00:22.550 --> 00:00:23.837 align:middle line:90%
of Katherine Larson.

00:00:23.837 --> 00:00:25.295 align:middle line:84%
And if you know
Katherine, you know

00:00:25.295 --> 00:00:28.730 align:middle line:84%
how poorly I'm going to be
doing what she would do.

00:00:28.730 --> 00:00:29.490 align:middle line:90%
She's terrific.

00:00:29.490 --> 00:00:31.490 align:middle line:84%
And so she has a new book
coming out this summer

00:00:31.490 --> 00:00:34.032 align:middle line:84%
that we'll have more about that
we're excited to support here

00:00:34.032 --> 00:00:35.180 align:middle line:90%
at the Poetry Center.

00:00:35.180 --> 00:00:37.010 align:middle line:84%
And so without
further ado, I'm going

00:00:37.010 --> 00:00:39.470 align:middle line:84%
to introduce Sally
Ball to read first,

00:00:39.470 --> 00:00:41.690 align:middle line:84%
and Alison Deming
to read second.

00:00:41.690 --> 00:00:45.360 align:middle line:84%
So it is a great pleasure-- and
again, this is Katherine Larson.

00:00:45.360 --> 00:00:48.380 align:middle line:84%
So imagine someone
much more exciting

00:00:48.380 --> 00:00:51.230 align:middle line:90%
than me up here speaking.

00:00:51.230 --> 00:00:53.300 align:middle line:84%
A great pleasure to
welcome and introduce

00:00:53.300 --> 00:00:55.520 align:middle line:84%
Sally Ball, a luminary
poet, director

00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:59.130 align:middle line:84%
of the Creative Writing program
at ASU, so just up the road.

00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:01.200 align:middle line:84%
An associate director
of Four Way Books,

00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:04.849 align:middle line:84%
an independent press that's
based in New York City.

00:01:04.849 --> 00:01:07.580 align:middle line:84%
Ball is the author of the
celebrated poetry collections

00:01:07.580 --> 00:01:10.730 align:middle line:84%
Wreck Me, Annus
Mirabilis, selected

00:01:10.730 --> 00:01:14.150 align:middle line:84%
by Ellen Bryant Voigt as winner
of the Barrow Street Press

00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:15.210 align:middle line:90%
Poetry Prize.

00:01:15.210 --> 00:01:17.400 align:middle line:84%
Her poems have appeared
in many journals.

00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:20.630 align:middle line:84%
She is the recipient of
fellowships from the Arizona

00:01:20.630 --> 00:01:23.400 align:middle line:84%
Commission on the Arts, Bread
Loaf Writers' Conference,

00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.290 align:middle line:84%
Camac Art Center,
James Merrill House,

00:01:25.290 --> 00:01:27.590 align:middle line:90%
and the Ucross Foundation.

00:01:27.590 --> 00:01:30.080 align:middle line:84%
Ball's poetry exposes
the dissonances

00:01:30.080 --> 00:01:35.070 align:middle line:84%
in languages, music, and meaning
in profound and unexpected ways.

00:01:35.070 --> 00:01:38.460 align:middle line:84%
Her work invites us to
consider not just what is said,

00:01:38.460 --> 00:01:42.000 align:middle line:84%
but how it is said, and
what is left unsaid.

00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.180 align:middle line:84%
Formal and fragmented,
intimate and expansive,

00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:47.210 align:middle line:84%
her work delves into
the complexities

00:01:47.210 --> 00:01:50.280 align:middle line:84%
of the human experience,
vulnerability,

00:01:50.280 --> 00:01:53.510 align:middle line:84%
and the beauty found
in imperfection.

00:01:53.510 --> 00:01:56.930 align:middle line:84%
Her most recent collection
Hold Sway showcases

00:01:56.930 --> 00:01:59.970 align:middle line:84%
the breathtaking possibilities
of the lyric poem,

00:01:59.970 --> 00:02:03.450 align:middle line:84%
roaming from explorations
of identity, memory,

00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:07.260 align:middle line:84%
and the subtle intersections
of personal and public life.

00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:09.530 align:middle line:84%
The poems of Hold
Sway are fiercely

00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:13.970 align:middle line:84%
uncompromising in their demand
to uncover and interrogate

00:02:13.970 --> 00:02:17.030 align:middle line:90%
and to invest in language.

00:02:17.030 --> 00:02:19.490 align:middle line:84%
Ball's stunning
ingenuity lies in the way

00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:24.420 align:middle line:84%
she captures the mind at work,
its turbulence and clarity,

00:02:24.420 --> 00:02:27.680 align:middle line:90%
its leaps and arrivals.

00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:28.650 align:middle line:90%
That's dead on.

00:02:28.650 --> 00:02:30.710 align:middle line:90%
That's exactly right.

00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:36.880 align:middle line:84%
Take these lines from her
first poem in the book.

00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:40.240 align:middle line:84%
This is from Hold Sway, and the
poem is called "Armistice Day."

00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:45.160 align:middle line:84%
And the riverbank goes dark,
the bridge goes dark, everything

00:02:45.160 --> 00:02:50.260 align:middle line:84%
Melts into nothing save the
light that faces itself,

00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:53.980 align:middle line:84%
As if it had come to
an understanding, as if

00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:57.280 align:middle line:90%
It were listening to logic

00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.160 align:middle line:84%
The poem's allegiance is to
the framing and reframing

00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:04.460 align:middle line:84%
of possibilities and what
ways can light face itself.

00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:07.010 align:middle line:84%
How does light come
to an understanding?

00:03:07.010 --> 00:03:09.470 align:middle line:90%
How does light listen to logic?

00:03:09.470 --> 00:03:11.380 align:middle line:84%
The compression of
the lyric requires

00:03:11.380 --> 00:03:13.850 align:middle line:84%
us to consider such
multiplicities,

00:03:13.850 --> 00:03:18.970 align:middle line:84%
even as it reveals the conceit
that it is the singular

00:03:18.970 --> 00:03:21.190 align:middle line:90%
mind that's creating them.

00:03:21.190 --> 00:03:24.020 align:middle line:84%
Natalie Diaz has said
of Sally Ball's poems,

00:03:24.020 --> 00:03:28.120 align:middle line:84%
"Somewhere in all of Ball's
unmade and unmaking is a space

00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:30.380 align:middle line:84%
where we might find
ourselves again,

00:03:30.380 --> 00:03:33.340 align:middle line:90%
or even for the first time."

00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:37.150 align:middle line:84%
We are lucky to find ourselves
in this space tonight,

00:03:37.150 --> 00:03:39.100 align:middle line:84%
to experience Sally
Ball's singular

00:03:39.100 --> 00:03:41.750 align:middle line:84%
mind and the dazzling
spectrum of her poems.

00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:45.060 align:middle line:84%
Please help me welcome
my friend Sally Ball.

00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:47.000 align:middle line:90%