WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.995 align:middle line:84%
In the back of the
room, the greyhound.

00:00:01.995 --> 00:00:05.390 align:middle line:90%


00:00:05.390 --> 00:00:06.560 align:middle line:90%
Well I was writing about--

00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:09.080 align:middle line:90%


00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:11.480 align:middle line:84%
in more mythical
vocabulary or something

00:00:11.480 --> 00:00:13.250 align:middle line:90%
like that-- sunflowers.

00:00:13.250 --> 00:00:15.140 align:middle line:84%
At that point I ran
into Ron Rosen, who

00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:18.020 align:middle line:90%
was a younger poet, who had--

00:00:18.020 --> 00:00:19.700 align:middle line:84%
I had talked to
before and was trying

00:00:19.700 --> 00:00:21.350 align:middle line:84%
to explain Williams's
conception--

00:00:21.350 --> 00:00:24.650 align:middle line:84%
or what I thought was Williams's
conception of images into him.

00:00:24.650 --> 00:00:27.050 align:middle line:84%
So he had come back
from a hitchhiking trip

00:00:27.050 --> 00:00:32.390 align:middle line:84%
and written a poem about
a diner in Oklahoma,

00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:35.670 align:middle line:84%
or a waitress in a
diner in Oklahoma,

00:00:35.670 --> 00:00:38.840 align:middle line:84%
which was so natural
that I realized

00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:42.560 align:middle line:84%
that I was not actually
writing about my immediate

00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.845 align:middle line:90%
surroundings.

00:00:43.845 --> 00:00:46.220 align:middle line:84%
At, the time, I was working
in the bank on the greyhound,

00:00:46.220 --> 00:00:50.750 align:middle line:84%
so I tried to compose out
of the elements there,

00:00:50.750 --> 00:00:53.880 align:middle line:84%
going back, in a sense, to
1930, for the time, in a sense,

00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:58.820 align:middle line:84%
and then to Williams's
Paterson in much detail.

00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:01.250 align:middle line:84%
To look around where I
was in a circumstance that

00:01:01.250 --> 00:01:05.355 align:middle line:84%
was, at that time to my mind,
not particularly poetic.

00:01:05.355 --> 00:01:07.730 align:middle line:84%
I mean, I realize it was poetic
but I hadn't realized it,

00:01:07.730 --> 00:01:09.500 align:middle line:90%
really, to write about it.

00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:13.430 align:middle line:90%


00:01:13.430 --> 00:01:17.030 align:middle line:84%
In the depth of the
Greyhound terminal,

00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:20.600 align:middle line:84%
sitting glumly on a baggage
truck, looking at the sky,

00:01:20.600 --> 00:01:22.940 align:middle line:84%
waiting for the
Los Angeles express

00:01:22.940 --> 00:01:25.580 align:middle line:84%
to depart, worrying
about eternity.

00:01:25.580 --> 00:01:28.010 align:middle line:84%
Over the post office
roof in the night time,

00:01:28.010 --> 00:01:30.530 align:middle line:90%
red downtown heaven.

00:01:30.530 --> 00:01:33.020 align:middle line:84%
Staring from my
eyeglasses, I realized,

00:01:33.020 --> 00:01:35.960 align:middle line:84%
shuddering, we thought
we're not eternity,

00:01:35.960 --> 00:01:39.920 align:middle line:84%
nor the poverty of our lives,
irritable baggage clerk,

00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.990 align:middle line:84%
or the millions of weeping
relatives surrounding

00:01:41.990 --> 00:01:44.303 align:middle line:90%
the buses, waving goodbye.

00:01:44.303 --> 00:01:46.220 align:middle line:84%
Nor other millions of
the poor, rushing around

00:01:46.220 --> 00:01:49.070 align:middle line:84%
from city to city to
see their loved ones.

00:01:49.070 --> 00:01:51.920 align:middle line:84%
Nor an Indian, dead with
fright, talking to a huge cop

00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:53.360 align:middle line:90%
by the Coke machine.

00:01:53.360 --> 00:01:55.700 align:middle line:84%
Nor this trembling
old lady with a cane,

00:01:55.700 --> 00:01:57.890 align:middle line:84%
taking the last
trip of her life.

00:01:57.890 --> 00:02:00.830 align:middle line:84%
Nor the red cap cynical
porter collecting his quarters

00:02:00.830 --> 00:02:03.350 align:middle line:84%
and smiling under
the smashed baggage,

00:02:03.350 --> 00:02:06.470 align:middle line:84%
nor me looking around
at the horrible dream.

00:02:06.470 --> 00:02:09.320 align:middle line:84%
Nor mustached Negro
operating clerk named

00:02:09.320 --> 00:02:12.470 align:middle line:84%
Spade, dealing out with
his marvelous long hand,

00:02:12.470 --> 00:02:15.350 align:middle line:84%
the fate of thousands
of express packages.

00:02:15.350 --> 00:02:18.110 align:middle line:84%
Nor Fairy Sam in the
basement, limping

00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:21.830 align:middle line:84%
from leaden trunk to trunk,
nor Joe at the counter,

00:02:21.830 --> 00:02:23.450 align:middle line:84%
with his nervous
breakdowns, smiling

00:02:23.450 --> 00:02:26.750 align:middle line:90%
cowardly at the customers.

00:02:26.750 --> 00:02:29.900 align:middle line:84%
Nor the grayish green
whale's stomach interior loft

00:02:29.900 --> 00:02:32.600 align:middle line:84%
where we keep the
baggage and hideous rack.

00:02:32.600 --> 00:02:34.730 align:middle line:84%
Hundreds of suitcases
full of tragedy,

00:02:34.730 --> 00:02:37.610 align:middle line:84%
rocking back and forth,
waiting to be opened.

00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.400 align:middle line:84%
Nor the baggage that's
lost or damaged,

00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.960 align:middle line:84%
handles, nameplates vanished,
busted wires and broken ropes

00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.840 align:middle line:84%
hold trunks exploding
on the concrete floor.

00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:52.230 align:middle line:84%
Nor steam bags emptied into the
night in the final warehouse.

00:02:52.230 --> 00:02:57.350 align:middle line:84%
Yet they reminded me of
angels, all living above.

00:02:57.350 --> 00:02:59.810 align:middle line:84%
Dressed in blue
overalls, black face,

00:02:59.810 --> 00:03:02.180 align:middle line:84%
the official angel
of workman's death.

00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:04.730 align:middle line:84%
Pushing, with his
belly, a huge tin horse

00:03:04.730 --> 00:03:06.860 align:middle line:90%
piled high with black baggage.

00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:10.730 align:middle line:84%
Looking up as he passed,
the yellow lightbulb both

00:03:10.730 --> 00:03:13.970 align:middle line:84%
of the loft, and
holding high on his arm

00:03:13.970 --> 00:03:17.630 align:middle line:90%
an iron shepherd's crook.

00:03:17.630 --> 00:03:20.630 align:middle line:84%
It was a racket, I realized
sitting myself on top of them

00:03:20.630 --> 00:03:24.590 align:middle line:84%
now-- it is my wont at lunch
time to rest my tired foot.

00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:28.010 align:middle line:84%
It was the rack, great wooden
shelves and sconce end spokes

00:03:28.010 --> 00:03:32.810 align:middle line:84%
and beams assembled, floor to
roof, jumbled with baggage.

00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:34.370 align:middle line:84%
The Japanese white
metal footboard

00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:38.120 align:middle line:84%
trunk, bawdily flowered
and headed for Fort Bragg.

00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:40.790 align:middle line:84%
One Mexican green paper
package in purple rope,

00:03:40.790 --> 00:03:43.610 align:middle line:90%
adorned with names for Nogales.

00:03:43.610 --> 00:03:46.520 align:middle line:84%
Hundreds of radiators
all at once for Eureka,

00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.910 align:middle line:84%
crates of Hawaiian underwear,
rows of posters scattered

00:03:49.910 --> 00:03:52.280 align:middle line:84%
over the Peninsula,
nuts for Sacramento,

00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.760 align:middle line:84%
one human eye for
Napa, an aluminum box

00:03:55.760 --> 00:03:58.490 align:middle line:84%
of human blood for Stockton,
and a little red package

00:03:58.490 --> 00:04:00.710 align:middle line:90%
of keys for Calistoga.

00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:01.790 align:middle line:90%
It was a wreck.

00:04:01.790 --> 00:04:05.280 align:middle line:84%
And these on the racks, I
saw naked in electric lights

00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:06.890 align:middle line:90%
the night before I quit.

00:04:06.890 --> 00:04:09.680 align:middle line:84%
The rest were created
to hang our possessions,

00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:13.490 align:middle line:84%
to keep us together, a
temporary shift in space.

00:04:13.490 --> 00:04:17.089 align:middle line:84%
Got the only way of building the
rickety structure at the time.

00:04:17.089 --> 00:04:19.519 align:middle line:84%
To hold the bag, to
stand on the road,

00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:22.100 align:middle line:84%
to carry our luggage
from place to place,

00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:23.970 align:middle line:84%
looking for a bus
to ride us back

00:04:23.970 --> 00:04:25.910 align:middle line:84%
home to eternity where
the heart was left

00:04:25.910 --> 00:04:27.440 align:middle line:90%
and stairwells here began.

00:04:27.440 --> 00:04:30.630 align:middle line:90%


00:04:30.630 --> 00:04:32.280 align:middle line:84%
Well, the bag is
sitting by the counter

00:04:32.280 --> 00:04:34.260 align:middle line:84%
as the transcontinental
bus pulls in.

00:04:34.260 --> 00:04:39.120 align:middle line:84%
The clock registering
12:15 AM, May 9, 1965.

00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:41.730 align:middle line:84%
The second hand
moving forward, red.

00:04:41.730 --> 00:04:43.680 align:middle line:84%
Getting ready to
load my last bus.

00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.800 align:middle line:84%
Farewell, Walnut Creek,
Richmond, Viejo, Portland,

00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:51.240 align:middle line:84%
Pacific Highway, fleet
Quicksilver got its engines.

00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:54.030 align:middle line:84%
One last package, just
laying at midnight.

00:04:54.030 --> 00:04:58.290 align:middle line:84%
Picking up out of the coatrack,
I, as a dusty florescent light.

00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:01.290 align:middle line:84%
The way they pay us
is too low to live on,

00:05:01.290 --> 00:05:04.650 align:middle line:84%
tragedy was just a number,
just for the poor sucker,

00:05:04.650 --> 00:05:06.850 align:middle line:90%
I am a communist.

00:05:06.850 --> 00:05:10.230 align:middle line:84%
Farewell, you Greyhound,
where I suffered so much.

00:05:10.230 --> 00:05:12.030 align:middle line:84%
Hurt my knee, and
scraped my hand,

00:05:12.030 --> 00:05:15.830 align:middle line:84%
and built my pectoral
muscles big as a giant.

00:05:15.830 --> 00:05:22.000 align:middle line:90%