WEBVTT

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That was great, Anthony.

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That was great.

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By the way, what was that?

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[LAUGHTER]

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Is that a military base?

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Oh, yeah.

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Is it?

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I don't know.

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[INTERPOSING VOICES]

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I don't know anything
about Phoenix.

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Just kidding.

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Tucson.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Just kidding.

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Thank you, Anthony.

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We have our next reader.

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Elise Paschen.

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She is an enrolled member
of the Osage Nation.

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She's the author of six poetry
collections and most recently,

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Blood Wolf Moon.

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Her other books include
Tallchief, The Nightlife,

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Bestiary, Infidelities, winner
of the Nicholas Roerich Poetry

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Prize, and Houses Coasts.

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As an undergraduate at Harvard,
she received the Garrison Medal

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for poetry.

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She holds multiple degrees
from Oxford University.

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Paschen received the
Rupert Costo Chair

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in American Indian
Affairs Medal in 2019.

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Paschen teaches in the
MFA Writing Program

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at the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago.

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Please welcome Elise.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Hawé.

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Elise Paschen zha'-zhe a-brįe.

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Hello, my name is Elise Paschen.

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Let's give another
round of applause

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for our incredible Fellows.

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[APPLAUSE]

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It's always so
inspiring to share

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the podium with our Fellows
each of our retreats.

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So our mentoring
retreat this year

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has focused on sacred spaces.

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I'll read four poems which
circle around the sacred

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from my most recent poetry
collection, Blood Wolf Moon.

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The book begins with
a long poem called

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Heritage, which takes a deep
dive into my Osage story lines.

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This poem is about
our creation story.

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Heritage two.

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Extinguished.

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Our next of kin descended
from constellations.

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The little ones desiring
a form out of air

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into muscle, sinew, limbs,
landing in red oak trees

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and with the heft of their
new bodies, scattered

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capped oak nuts
across the Earth.

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Underneath branches, each
acorn a child to be born.

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How eagle navigated
the downward flight.

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Wings spackled catching
spirals of wind.

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Waters blown across landmasses
sculpted by great elk.

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The Earth maker.

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As hooves sunk, torso and
antlers heaved into ocean.

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The water people,
the name givers

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gave Appalachians to the
sky people, the land people.

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I have always been
earthbound and obstinate,

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drawn to these rising and
falling hills, the tall grass

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prairies, the deer rutting
moon hovering over the ridge.

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How I mapped the rental
car onto back roads.

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The trails my relatives
crisscrossed on their seasonal

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hunts until I was lost.

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My Osage name descends
from the Buffalo clan.

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I seek out bodies
of water the way

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those who came before settled
along the deep tributaries.

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The veins on the
backs of our hands.

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Hands I recognize in those
oval family portraits.

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Long, lean, poised.

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I was born in the month
of the blood wolf moon.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you so much.