WEBVTT

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I mean, right?

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Wow.

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Wow!

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I was going to add that one of
the other things about Robert

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is that every time
I looked at him,

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he was face down in
his laptop, like,

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furiously working every
single second of the day.

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Every little bit of off.

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And there was one
time when I was

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going to go sneak a
snack out of the kitchen,

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and Robert was working
in the living room area.

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And I just didn't want to bother
him, and I'm glad I didn't.

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So thank you so much for that.

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That was really beautiful.

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Speaking of beautiful, our
next poet is an amazing potter.

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And, something about Max
is that he speaks in poems,

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and particularly when he's
talking about his process.

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We had the great
fortune, as I mentioned,

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of learning how to do pinch
pots with Max and the generosity

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and the beauty of that process.

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And we fired it on the land.

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We built a fire together and
we fired it just on the ground,

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on the earth.

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And it was a stunning process.

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But the best part was just
hearing Max talk about the work.

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So Max is both a
poet and a potter.

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And sometimes he's
even a pirate.

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I've heard.

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[LAUGHTER]

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And his poems are like his pots.

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They're sprung from the earth
and they're touched by fire.

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They're little
beautiful perfections

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made of spirit and generosity.

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Max Early is a Laguna Pueblo
poet from Paguate, New Mexico.

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His work is published in Poetry
Magazine, Green Linden Press,

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Poetry Northwest,
and many others.

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He currently teaches at the
University of New Mexico's art

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studio department as the
Pueblo pottery instructor.

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Max Early.

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[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

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Thank you, Rob, for
those kind words.

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I'll go ahead and get started.

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I'm going to read four poems.

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The first two will be from
my first book, Ears of Corn:

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Listen.

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This is what happens
when you get old.

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[MAX AND AUDIENCE LAUGH]

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That's the first thing to go.

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In the Black Blue
Hue of Sunrise Dawn.

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In the black blue
hue of sunrise dawn,

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Mother fire keeps me warm.

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I pray and breathe
on the dry flowers,

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An offering to the Deer Spirit.

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Consumed by the flame,

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My prayer goes up in smoke--

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Rainbow full of colors
for the deer to see.

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They say, Moo puu-cha
ga-schot-tsee,

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Guy on-yeh, shro egu sheh:

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Look at the beautiful rainbow,

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Let's go over there.

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Climbing the hill in pursuit,

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Fresh deer tracks everywhere.

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Directly in front
of me, Guysh-beeshru

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The rays of sunrise
glisten on the antlers.

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We have found the rainbow,

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Now it's time to go home.

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Home to the mountain lion,

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Singing hunting songs of praise.

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Tribute and honor to the deer,

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Corn pollen prayers
scatter in the wind,

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Bless us again, Deer Spirit.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you.

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