WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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So before I start my intro, my
friend and fellow poet Claire

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Hong, who introduced Anselm
yesterday at his lecture,

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is having her first child.

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And my wife and
I are also having

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our first child due in March.

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So the poets are
having babies there.

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But how many poets can you name
that have appeared in a Rolling

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Stones music video?

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I only know of one poet
who can claim this.

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And it's Anselm Berrigan.

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Anselm is cool as all
hell, and so is his poetry.

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And allow me to tell you why.

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I've known Anselm since
2017, when I interviewed him

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for Sonora Review.

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In that interview, knowing
that he's a basketball fan,

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I sneakily asked him if he'd
be willing to join a fantasy

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basketball league
that I had started.

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If you're unfamiliar,
fantasy basketball

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is like Dungeons and Dragons,
but with real NBA players.

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And their stats tell the story.

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To my surprise, Anselm joined
my fantasy basketball league,

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and we've been drafting
teams, and competing

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against each other, and having a
blast for the past eight years.

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I look up to Anselm.

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I look up to him as
an artist, but also

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as a fellow son of an artist,
where it wasn't just something

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that our parents did
in their spare time,

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or in their retirement,
or a serious hobby.

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It was their living.

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My father was a Southwest
landscape artist and portrait

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painter, and he was a middle
school art teacher for 30 years.

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So it's fascinating
for me to hear

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how Anselm wrestles with and
writes about his poet parents.

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In Anselm's talk
yesterday, he said

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that when he started writing, he
wasn't interested in characters

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or narrative.

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And I generally
agree, but I think

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it's because, for me, the poems
can't escape these things.

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I find narratives and
characters and stories

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all the time in Anselm's poetry.

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But I'm making those connections
in my own imagination,

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and that's even
more exciting when

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I catch a reference to Wade
Boggs, Marshawn Lynch or Rajon

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Rondo.

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Oh yeah, it's double-sided.

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There we go--
skipped over there.

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So my favorite Rolling Stones
song is "Waiting on a Friend."

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It's a sweet, slow burner
of a '70s Stones song.

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And in the tradition of some
of Bob Dylan's anti-love songs

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or songs that are about chasing
away or ignoring romantic love,

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"Waiting on a Friend"
has a cool, laid back,

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playful acceptance to it.

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I loved that song.

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And I think the video
is really cool, too.

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And I used to watch
it all the time.

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I used to play it on repeat
in the early days of YouTube

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in 2008/2009.

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But it wasn't until
a few years ago

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that I found out
that Anselm comes out

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in the video for five seconds,
and pretty prominently featured

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in those five
seconds, with Anselm

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in the foreground of a scene
with Keith Richards strutting

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down a New York Street
in the background.

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Teenage Anselm is
there, just hanging out,

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a kid playing on the street
or something, I'm not sure.

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But he's very much there.

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So this is from the Wikipedia
entry for the video of "Waiting

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on a Friend," which doesn't
mention Anselm is in the video.

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So you're getting something that
Wikipedia won't give you here.

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But this is straight
from Wikipedia.

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The video for the Rolling Stones
song "Waiting on a Friend,"

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shot on July 2, 1981,
was directed by Michael

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Lindsay-Hogg, who also directed
their 1968 special The Rolling

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Stones Rock and Roll Circus.

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It became very popular on MTV.

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Matching the song's
lyrics, Jagger

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is seen waiting for Keith
Richards in the doorway

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of an apartment block.

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The building, at 9698 St.
Mark's Place in Manhattan,

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is notable for
having also appeared

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on the cover of Led Zeppelin's
1975 album Physical Graffiti.

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The two then walked
down the street

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and enter the St.
Mark's Bar and Grill,

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where the other three band
members are already drinking.

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Ronnie Wood appears
in the video,

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although he was not a musician
on the original recording.

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Jagger sings the
song to Richards.

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And the video concludes with
the band setting up for a gig

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at the back of the bar, largely
ignored by the other patrons.

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In Anselm's lecture
talk yesterday, he

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shared all these cool stories
about poets who I admire.

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And now poets like
Claire Hong and I

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get to share stories about
Anselm, a poet we look up to

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and admire for his infectious
energy and playfulness

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in his work.

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Anselm's poetry collects things.

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Anselm's poetry is a hoarder.

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And this inspired
a lot of my book--

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The Border Simulator,
where I'm trying

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to capture all the Spanglish
and Spanish and English sayings,

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overheard stuff you can
only hear at the border.

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Sometimes reading
Anselm's poetry

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feels like I'm overhearing
a conversation from people

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who I want to hang out with.

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So it's pretty cool we get to
hang out with Anselm for 45

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minutes here and hear his work.

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When I read Anselm's
poetry, I'm cracking up.

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I'm laughing.

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I'm recognizing references to
baseball and basketball moments,

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garage rock bands from the '90s,
remixed aphorisms and sayings.

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I'm having a blast.

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The first line in
Anselm Berrigan's book,

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Primitive State, goes against
the rules of art museums

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and states, "touch the art."

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For me, Anselm's
poetry loudly hums.

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Think of the crash
test dummies song.

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[HUMMING] That's actually
the name of the song.

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So Anselm's poetry loudly hums.

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And hums are saying,
we want to have fun.

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We want to rock and roll.

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We want to swing for the fences.

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We want to wait on a friend.

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And right now, I'm just
waiting on a friend.

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And I'm so chuffed, so happy
to call you, Anselm, a friend.

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Please help me welcome
Anselm Berrigan.

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[APPLAUSE]

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