WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:03.390 align:middle line:84% But we're on quite a story together right now 00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:08.070 align:middle line:84% at this moment in American history and world history. 00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:12.390 align:middle line:90% And we have trickster figures. 00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:14.550 align:middle line:84% Every culture has trickster figures. 00:00:14.550 --> 00:00:19.590 align:middle line:84% For some people, it's coyote or coyote, some it's spider. 00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:24.600 align:middle line:84% For us, the Muskogee people, it's rabbit. 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:29.190 align:middle line:84% And in our societies, tricksters play a particular role. 00:00:29.190 --> 00:00:31.620 align:middle line:84% In a lot of societies all over the world, 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:35.640 align:middle line:84% often you have the leader figure and then 00:00:35.640 --> 00:00:38.280 align:middle line:84% there's a clown or a clown system 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:42.450 align:middle line:84% or a trickster nearby acting out in polarity. 00:00:42.450 --> 00:00:45.465 align:middle line:84% But right now in this country, it's reversed. 00:00:45.465 --> 00:00:53.460 align:middle line:90% 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:57.750 align:middle line:84% So this poem is a contemporary trickster story 00:00:57.750 --> 00:01:01.440 align:middle line:84% sort of about what we all wonder about, how did we get here? 00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:02.295 align:middle line:90% Who are where? 00:01:02.295 --> 00:01:04.290 align:middle line:90% Where are we going? 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:08.910 align:middle line:84% And nobody ever really answers it. 00:01:08.910 --> 00:01:10.410 align:middle line:90% But with poetry, we have. 00:01:10.410 --> 00:01:13.200 align:middle line:90% 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:16.410 align:middle line:90% We find all the doorways. 00:01:16.410 --> 00:01:19.560 align:middle line:90% "Rabbit is up to Tricks." 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:24.180 align:middle line:84% In a world long before this one, there is enough for everyone 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:28.710 align:middle line:90% until somebody got out of line. 00:01:28.710 --> 00:01:33.390 align:middle line:84% We heard it was Rabbit fooling around with clay in the wind. 00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:37.020 align:middle line:84% Everyone was tired of his tricks and no one would play with him, 00:01:37.020 --> 00:01:40.230 align:middle line:90% and he was lonely in this world. 00:01:40.230 --> 00:01:44.230 align:middle line:84% So Rabbit thought to make a person. 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:48.210 align:middle line:84% And when he blew into the mouth of that crude figure 00:01:48.210 --> 00:01:55.320 align:middle line:84% to see what would happen, the clay man stood up. 00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:57.960 align:middle line:84% Rabbit showed the clay man how to steal the chicken, 00:01:57.960 --> 00:01:59.790 align:middle line:90% the clay man obeyed. 00:01:59.790 --> 00:02:03.660 align:middle line:84% Then he showed him how to steal corn, the clay man obeyed. 00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:07.020 align:middle line:84% Then he showed him how to steal someone else's wife, 00:02:07.020 --> 00:02:10.500 align:middle line:90% and that clay man obeyed. 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:13.350 align:middle line:84% Rabbit felt important and powerful, 00:02:13.350 --> 00:02:17.170 align:middle line:84% and clay man felt important and powerful. 00:02:17.170 --> 00:02:20.700 align:middle line:84% And once that clay man started, he could not stop. 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:23.640 align:middle line:84% Once he took that chicken, he wanted all the chickens. 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:26.640 align:middle line:84% Once he took that corn, he wanted all the corn. 00:02:26.640 --> 00:02:32.460 align:middle line:84% And once he took that wife, well, he wanted all the wives. 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:36.300 align:middle line:90% He was insatiable. 00:02:36.300 --> 00:02:39.240 align:middle line:90% Then he had a taste of gold. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.310 align:middle line:90% He wanted all the gold. 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:44.280 align:middle line:84% Soon it was land or anything else he saw. 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:49.020 align:middle line:84% His wanting only made him want more. 00:02:49.020 --> 00:02:54.210 align:middle line:84% Soon it was countries, then it was trade. 00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:59.790 align:middle line:90% So wanting infected the Earth. 00:02:59.790 --> 00:03:04.680 align:middle line:84% We lost track of the purpose and meaning of life. 00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:08.010 align:middle line:84% We began to forget our songs, our stories. 00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:11.100 align:middle line:84% We can no longer see or hear our ancestors 00:03:11.100 --> 00:03:16.740 align:middle line:84% or talk with each other across the kitchen table. 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:20.400 align:middle line:84% Forests were being mowed down all 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.180 align:middle line:90% over the world to make more. 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:30.050 align:middle line:84% And Rabbit had no place left to play. 00:03:30.050 --> 00:03:33.470 align:middle line:90% Rabbit's trick had backfired. 00:03:33.470 --> 00:03:35.765 align:middle line:84% Rabbit tried to call that clay man back. 00:03:35.765 --> 00:03:38.380 align:middle line:90% 00:03:38.380 --> 00:03:41.020 align:middle line:84% But when the clay man wouldn't listen, 00:03:41.020 --> 00:03:48.930 align:middle line:84% Rabbit realized, he'd made a clay man with no ears. 00:03:48.930 --> 00:03:50.000 align:middle line:90%