WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.900 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:03.270 align:middle line:84% The next poem is from a little chapbook 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.750 align:middle line:84% that came out this year, which has the embarrassing title 00:00:06.750 --> 00:00:09.840 align:middle line:84% of my names greatest hits-- "my greatest hits," 00:00:09.840 --> 00:00:13.580 align:middle line:84% so that poets can feel like rock stars. 00:00:13.580 --> 00:00:16.250 align:middle line:84% And this poem is called "Scorpion Season" 00:00:16.250 --> 00:00:19.250 align:middle line:84% because I've been stung or I used 00:00:19.250 --> 00:00:20.618 align:middle line:90% to get stung a lot by scorpions. 00:00:20.618 --> 00:00:22.160 align:middle line:84% But then I wrote this poem, and now I 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:24.930 align:middle line:84% haven't been stung by a scorpion since I wrote this poem. 00:00:24.930 --> 00:00:28.890 align:middle line:84% So I keep hoping, you know, that they won't get me in my sleep. 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:31.310 align:middle line:84% Well, one actually fell off my ceiling, right? 00:00:31.310 --> 00:00:34.670 align:middle line:84% And I just-- I was in this dream. 00:00:34.670 --> 00:00:38.220 align:middle line:84% And it stung me twice right in my breast. 00:00:38.220 --> 00:00:40.290 align:middle line:90% This was not cool. 00:00:40.290 --> 00:00:41.930 align:middle line:90% I did not invite this. 00:00:41.930 --> 00:00:44.270 align:middle line:84% And, so, we were living in Oracle 00:00:44.270 --> 00:00:47.510 align:middle line:84% or outside of Oracle, Arizona, which 00:00:47.510 --> 00:00:50.870 align:middle line:84% is 45 miles from the nearest hospital. 00:00:50.870 --> 00:00:56.510 align:middle line:84% So we called our friend the doctor, Arnold Nelson. 00:00:56.510 --> 00:00:59.315 align:middle line:84% And Arnold said, well, you'll be OK as long 00:00:59.315 --> 00:01:00.440 align:middle line:90% as it's not near the heart. 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:05.000 align:middle line:84% And I thought, oh, this is not good. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.810 align:middle line:84% Literally, I was paralyzed from the waist down for a few hours 00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:11.060 align:middle line:84% because it was one of those little bark scorpions that 00:01:11.060 --> 00:01:12.410 align:middle line:90% glow in the dark. 00:01:12.410 --> 00:01:15.260 align:middle line:90% But bill killed it, my husband. 00:01:15.260 --> 00:01:17.330 align:middle line:84% And I kept it in the refrigerator in a jar, 00:01:17.330 --> 00:01:18.875 align:middle line:84% and I felt really bad about that. 00:01:18.875 --> 00:01:23.100 align:middle line:90% 00:01:23.100 --> 00:01:25.477 align:middle line:90% But I kept it for a long time. 00:01:25.477 --> 00:01:27.810 align:middle line:84% And then I had to make my peace with them, as you always 00:01:27.810 --> 00:01:30.900 align:middle line:84% have to make your peace with every creature in the world 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:33.400 align:middle line:84% because we share this planet with them. 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.930 align:middle line:84% And I also, I teach environmental literature 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:38.400 align:middle line:90% at Fort Lewis College. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:39.880 align:middle line:90% And I enjoy doing that. 00:01:39.880 --> 00:01:42.990 align:middle line:84% So a lot of my poems come or draw their imagery 00:01:42.990 --> 00:01:44.560 align:middle line:90% from the natural world. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:48.030 align:middle line:90% And this one from the scorpion. 00:01:48.030 --> 00:01:49.410 align:middle line:90% "Scorpion Season." 00:01:49.410 --> 00:01:52.050 align:middle line:84% "Heat and monsoons call them out. 00:01:52.050 --> 00:01:55.020 align:middle line:84% Scorpions drop from ceilings or hide 00:01:55.020 --> 00:01:58.680 align:middle line:84% inside the cool, damp flesh of washcloths. 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:02.790 align:middle line:84% They find me everywhere I don't want them to be. 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:06.030 align:middle line:84% Now, before coffee, I'm ready for a bath. 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:11.220 align:middle line:84% No alarm is more obscene than this scorpion in my tub 00:02:11.220 --> 00:02:16.230 align:middle line:84% who maps with translucent claws the unscaleable stainless 00:02:16.230 --> 00:02:17.160 align:middle line:90% drain. 00:02:17.160 --> 00:02:20.520 align:middle line:84% Its caramel body glows, shows off 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:24.030 align:middle line:84% the one black vein of poison that lashes 00:02:24.030 --> 00:02:27.090 align:middle line:90% the heart to the stinger tail. 00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:31.320 align:middle line:84% Ticking seductress, misfortunes naive face, 00:02:31.320 --> 00:02:34.740 align:middle line:84% the scorpion scuttles through the world's shadows 00:02:34.740 --> 00:02:40.440 align:middle line:84% with its tail held aloof, lariat looped above its delicate head. 00:02:40.440 --> 00:02:44.310 align:middle line:84% Some call it beautiful, but I won't forget the night 00:02:44.310 --> 00:02:47.190 align:middle line:84% a scorpion twice stung my breast. 00:02:47.190 --> 00:02:49.740 align:middle line:90% Venom dry iced my chest. 00:02:49.740 --> 00:02:53.250 align:middle line:84% Constricted my breathing in his death vest. 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:55.320 align:middle line:90% My legs swelled numb. 00:02:55.320 --> 00:03:01.290 align:middle line:84% And, for days, a reggae of pain needled my face, my hands. 00:03:01.290 --> 00:03:03.450 align:middle line:84% Last night, when the moon cracked 00:03:03.450 --> 00:03:06.690 align:middle line:84% thunderheads and the arroyos yelped 00:03:06.690 --> 00:03:09.690 align:middle line:84% from the hysterical hunting of coyotes, 00:03:09.690 --> 00:03:16.170 align:middle line:84% I screamed when I found a scorpion curled on my pillow. 00:03:16.170 --> 00:03:19.800 align:middle line:84% Not this time, you little son of a bitch, 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.700 align:middle line:84% I said as I clamped down the mayonnaise jar." 00:03:23.700 --> 00:03:25.770 align:middle line:90% Excuse my language. 00:03:25.770 --> 00:03:28.470 align:middle line:84% "Then I heard it-- the minute click 00:03:28.470 --> 00:03:32.610 align:middle line:84% of his claws, their quick and frantic tattoo on glass, 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:36.480 align:middle line:84% that small tapping wrapped for my own inner ear 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:40.980 align:middle line:84% the fear of the blind man's stick, electricity licking 00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:43.080 align:middle line:90% the fingernails of the dead. 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:47.820 align:middle line:84% I stopped, awed by the power of so much venom in such 00:03:47.820 --> 00:03:49.230 align:middle line:90% a fragile shape. 00:03:49.230 --> 00:03:54.810 align:middle line:84% Such charm the world offers is as dangerous as the one lover 00:03:54.810 --> 00:03:57.060 align:middle line:90% you'd follow anywhere. 00:03:57.060 --> 00:04:00.150 align:middle line:84% The scorpion and I are not so different, 00:04:00.150 --> 00:04:05.010 align:middle line:84% carrying poison to protect us, plagued by our common baggage 00:04:05.010 --> 00:04:07.320 align:middle line:90% of action and consequence. 00:04:07.320 --> 00:04:10.800 align:middle line:84% I freed him, knowing such defenses are 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.450 align:middle line:84% a necessity for those who live by thunder light and moon. 00:04:15.450 --> 00:04:18.790 align:middle line:84% This morning, I wonder if I made a mistake. 00:04:18.790 --> 00:04:22.410 align:middle line:84% I am naked and shivering despite desert heat. 00:04:22.410 --> 00:04:26.940 align:middle line:84% How do I evict this scorpion from my bathtub 00:04:26.940 --> 00:04:29.340 align:middle line:90% without getting stung? 00:04:29.340 --> 00:04:34.710 align:middle line:84% While clouds not blue air and lightning spikes wind through 00:04:34.710 --> 00:04:39.090 align:middle line:84% blood, skin to manzanita, yellow-flowering mesquite, 00:04:39.090 --> 00:04:42.270 align:middle line:90% I find the perfect instruments-- 00:04:42.270 --> 00:04:43.950 align:middle line:90% chopsticks." 00:04:43.950 --> 00:04:46.140 align:middle line:90% Always works, girls. 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:49.050 align:middle line:84% "Never has balance been more apparent. 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:52.650 align:middle line:84% This morning hovers between punishment and grace. 00:04:52.650 --> 00:04:57.250 align:middle line:84% Rain breaks as in one swift pinch and lift, 00:04:57.250 --> 00:05:01.800 align:middle line:84% I flip the scorpion into its transparent cage. 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:06.870 align:middle line:84% Together, we'll wait out the monsoon in this dry land 00:05:06.870 --> 00:05:10.800 align:middle line:84% where each day we learn the heart of its seasons 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:17.490 align:middle line:84% are twins to ours with their beauty, their terror." 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:20.690 align:middle line:84% I always use the chopstick method.