we are now moving on to our lifetime achievement award, eugene b. redmann really all my life. and i was asked by our board to author some words as part of our honoring eugene's work, his life, and i'll share them with you as we welcome eugene b. redman this afternoon. eugene redman's poetry speaks with a rare authority, feeling and an undeniable sense of reality. radically sensual and rhythmically propull sieve, redman's work is one of embodied experience. and what an experience it has been. redman has truly lived, to borrow a word from the late master ted jones, the poem life. [laughter] that is to say one not in any way separate from the magic and mysteries of poetry itself. the man in the poem and redman are one. the complex arc and panorama of american history makes itself known throughout redman's work. as a scholar, eugene redman pioneered the field of african-american poetry with his ground breaking study "drum voices: the mission of afro-american poetry". a critical history. doing for poetry what irene sutherland had already achieved with her monum