[APPLAUSE]
[SIGHS] My god.
Hello.
Thank you, Melissa.
That was such a fantastic introduction.
I appreciate it so much.
To be read closely and carefully is like the greatest gift,
and it just feels like it's your birthday and everybody's
clapping for you.
Anyway--
[AUDIENCE LAUGHS]
--it's really cool.
Thank you all for being here.
It's really blowing my mind to see
this beautiful crowd of people spilling out into the air.
Cameron and I flew in from Western Massachusetts,
so the fact that this thing can be open
is mind-boggling to me in the best of ways.
We've had just the best week here.
Thank you so much to Tim and Anne
for making our time here possible,
for making the time of future queer and trans poets
here possible.
Like, it kind of is beyond words.
Poetry so depends on the people who
believe in it for it to exist and to be robust.
And some of those people are poets, and some of them are not.
And my life would not be possible
if it were not for the people who believe in poetry.
So thank you all for being here and for making this possible.
Also, thank you to Tyler.
Thank you to Paola.
Thank you, TC.
Thank you to-- I mean, I think I wrote down-- oh yeah,
the last person on the list of people to thank
was just everyone.
So I think thank you, everyone.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHS]