WEBVTT

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Now I understand why I heard
Sarah's laughter echoing

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through the library when she
was reading Matthew's books.

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That was amazing and
also so contemplative.

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But here we go forth
into the evening

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with another amazing
poet, and it's

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my honor to introduce
Vievee Francis tonight.

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While reading the poetry of
Vievee Francis in preparation

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for this evening, I
kept track of what

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I learned in the form of
a words and phrases log

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that lists what I googled
as I read each of her books.

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To give you a sense of
Vievee Francis's range

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in terms of diction
and concepts,

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here's a short list of
entries from the log.

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Manumission, Civil War drums,
Lethe, Valeria, Hylonome,

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French song lyrics
that I will not

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attempt to pronounce, Euryalus,
Centauromachy, bluebonnet,

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and tintype.

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Vievee's work not only
bestowed new knowledges

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upon me as a reader
because each of those

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led to really delightful Google
and Wikipedia rabbit holes,

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but her work also
conjured in me the magic

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of making the
familiar unfamiliar.

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Because also, as I
journeyed through her poems,

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I found myself
revisiting phenomena

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that I took for granted, plants
that dotted the landscape where

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I grew up, fairy tales I had
read in school, what it felt

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like to accompany my father
on errands as a child.

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The title of Vievee Francis's
latest book, The Shared World,

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aptly describes what her
poetry evokes and enacts.

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We are all implicated in
the sharing of this world.

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We learn, relearn,
and keep going,

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how terrifying, how wondrous.

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Vievee Francis's poetry
clears space for these truths

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not to compete, but coexist and
co-create a feeling of aliveness

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we can all recognize,
one that cuts

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through forgetting, numbing,
and historical amnesia.

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Vievee Francis is the author of
the poetry collections Blue-Tail

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Fly, Horse in the Dark, Forest
Primeval, and The Shared World.

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She is a Professor of
English and Creative

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Writing at Dartmouth College,
and her forthcoming works

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comprise of a memoir titled Ugly
and a poetry collection titled

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Cleaning the Houses of the Dead.

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Please join me in welcoming
up Vievee Francis.

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[APPLAUSE]

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