WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.050 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.050 --> 00:00:03.180 align:middle line:84%
This is a poem about that
same time in my life.

00:00:03.180 --> 00:00:07.530 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.530 --> 00:00:09.780 align:middle line:84%
For some reason,
the army cleared me

00:00:09.780 --> 00:00:12.165 align:middle line:90%
for what they called top secret.

00:00:12.165 --> 00:00:14.040 align:middle line:84%
And then they never told
me anything that was

00:00:14.040 --> 00:00:15.980 align:middle line:90%
very secret at all, I thought.

00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:17.220 align:middle line:90%
I couldn't do much about it.

00:00:17.220 --> 00:00:20.240 align:middle line:90%


00:00:20.240 --> 00:00:21.220 align:middle line:90%
I was an enlisted man.

00:00:21.220 --> 00:00:24.070 align:middle line:84%
And one day, they had
some sort of message

00:00:24.070 --> 00:00:26.980 align:middle line:84%
that had to go into Las
Vegas, which is about

00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:30.640 align:middle line:90%
60 miles from the test grounds.

00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:35.140 align:middle line:84%
And I was the only person around
who was cleared for top secret

00:00:35.140 --> 00:00:36.920 align:middle line:90%
whether I was PFC or whatever.

00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:39.220 align:middle line:90%
So I had to carry the message.

00:00:39.220 --> 00:00:41.530 align:middle line:84%
And they assigned me
to a one engine plane

00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:44.860 align:middle line:84%
with a commissioned
officer who did not

00:00:44.860 --> 00:00:46.720 align:middle line:90%
like non-commissioned men.

00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:51.225 align:middle line:84%
And I was kind of rosy cheeked
and swan necked anyway.

00:00:51.225 --> 00:00:52.600 align:middle line:84%
And so he thought
he would just--

00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:54.716 align:middle line:84%
he was crazy is
what he was and--

00:00:54.716 --> 00:00:57.050 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:00:57.050 --> 00:00:58.320 align:middle line:90%
His name was Captain Lester.

00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.080 align:middle line:90%
I'll never forget it.

00:01:00.080 --> 00:01:02.473 align:middle line:84%
And he thought he would
show me what was going--

00:01:02.473 --> 00:01:03.390 align:middle line:90%
what it was all about.

00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:07.400 align:middle line:84%
So this is a poem about that
business about our flight.

00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.010 align:middle line:84%
It's called "Zimmer
and Lester Flying Low".

00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:13.100 align:middle line:90%


00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:17.420 align:middle line:84%
"The plane shaved daggers
from the Yucca plants.

00:01:17.420 --> 00:01:20.060 align:middle line:84%
Lester was amuck
at the throttle.

00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:22.790 align:middle line:84%
One wingdip or one
major itch would

00:01:22.790 --> 00:01:25.970 align:middle line:84%
have broadcast Zimmer
in all on the sand,

00:01:25.970 --> 00:01:28.580 align:middle line:84%
would have jettisoned the
worm meat off his bones

00:01:28.580 --> 00:01:31.940 align:middle line:84%
and dangled his
tendons in the cacti.

00:01:31.940 --> 00:01:35.810 align:middle line:84%
Even the wall eyed rabbits
ducked as bobcats heel

00:01:35.810 --> 00:01:40.520 align:middle line:84%
and towed away and Zimmer
felt spasms in his cheeks.

00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:44.060 align:middle line:84%
Lester hugged desert
for an hour or more.

00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:47.150 align:middle line:84%
He buzzed the sparkling
dunes as flush and hot

00:01:47.150 --> 00:01:51.440 align:middle line:84%
as Zimmer's eyeballs up
against their sweaty lids.

00:01:51.440 --> 00:01:53.870 align:middle line:84%
He blew the chacking
thrashers down

00:01:53.870 --> 00:01:58.280 align:middle line:84%
into the sand and
rattled snakes.

00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:01.610 align:middle line:84%
He flew the desert on the
string of his audacity

00:02:01.610 --> 00:02:05.990 align:middle line:84%
as Zimmer powdered his
molars in low fear.

00:02:05.990 --> 00:02:10.520 align:middle line:84%
Somehow, at last, they landed,
gathering up the streak

00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:12.830 align:middle line:90%
that had been the Earth.

00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.770 align:middle line:84%
Amazed thereafter that he
had not dropped and scattered

00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:19.700 align:middle line:84%
like some heavenly stool,
Zimmer found the world

00:02:19.700 --> 00:02:25.280 align:middle line:84%
to be too slow for impact, too
constipated for good movement,

00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:29.630 align:middle line:84%
and too easy now for
his accomplished pace."

00:02:29.630 --> 00:02:32.080 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHS]

00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:33.000 align:middle line:90%