WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:05.580 align:middle line:84% I guess this next poem I think of as a signature poem 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:09.090 align:middle line:84% because it's so autobiographical. 00:00:09.090 --> 00:00:11.040 align:middle line:84% And I like the poem, too, because this 00:00:11.040 --> 00:00:14.040 align:middle line:84% is one of the ones I struggled, probably, five or six 00:00:14.040 --> 00:00:15.810 align:middle line:90% years to find a title for. 00:00:15.810 --> 00:00:19.402 align:middle line:84% So I guess, on the one hand, writing the poem was fun to do, 00:00:19.402 --> 00:00:21.360 align:middle line:84% and on the other hand, the challenge of finding 00:00:21.360 --> 00:00:22.560 align:middle line:90% the appropriate title-- 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:25.830 align:middle line:84% and fighting for an appropriate title-- 00:00:25.830 --> 00:00:28.350 align:middle line:84% was one I thought I wasn't going to win. 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:31.800 align:middle line:84% So I'm very pleased with the title "Squaring the Names" 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:34.290 align:middle line:84% because, for me, it works on so many levels-- 00:00:34.290 --> 00:00:36.330 align:middle line:84% the mathematical part of me that wishes it 00:00:36.330 --> 00:00:38.610 align:middle line:84% were more mathematical and the part of me 00:00:38.610 --> 00:00:41.550 align:middle line:84% that feels boxed in sometimes and the part of me 00:00:41.550 --> 00:00:46.560 align:middle line:84% that tries to find other boxes to escape to. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:48.600 align:middle line:84% "When we caught lice in third grade, 00:00:48.600 --> 00:00:51.450 align:middle line:84% Tony's mother soaked his hair in kerosene. 00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:58.155 align:middle line:84% His hair fell out, exposing a football-shaped skull. 00:00:58.155 --> 00:01:01.860 align:middle line:84% Pelón, we chanted, Pelón, cabeza de melón. 00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:03.540 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:03.540 --> 00:01:06.600 align:middle line:84% We forgot his name but not his bald head, 00:01:06.600 --> 00:01:09.780 align:middle line:84% not even when his hair grew back. 00:01:09.780 --> 00:01:14.700 align:middle line:84% The Chávez's oldest girl wore a cheerleader skirt and a letter 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:17.610 align:middle line:90% on her boxy orange sweater. 00:01:17.610 --> 00:01:22.440 align:middle line:84% La Barbie, we called her, as in Barbie doll. 00:01:22.440 --> 00:01:26.700 align:middle line:84% And Jorge was her football captain, Ken. 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.960 align:middle line:84% And there was Pineapple for his chunky shape, 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:33.660 align:middle line:90% Shorty because he was. 00:01:33.660 --> 00:01:38.620 align:middle line:84% And Be-Tween, the youngest of the twins. 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:42.990 align:middle line:84% My favorites were Punkin with her fiery red hair, 00:01:42.990 --> 00:01:45.570 align:middle line:84% and Hollywood for his gold chains. 00:01:45.570 --> 00:01:50.250 align:middle line:84% For a while, I was a barrio sweetheart, la consentida, 00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:53.040 align:middle line:84% with my Shirley Temple curls to my waist. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.370 align:middle line:90% Too bad I wore bifocals-- 00:01:56.370 --> 00:02:01.200 align:middle line:84% bookworm, brain, Coke-bottle eyes. 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:03.940 align:middle line:84% My aunt switched to Spanish when I came around. 00:02:03.940 --> 00:02:05.700 align:middle line:90% I stayed bilingual. 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:09.389 align:middle line:84% When they caught me listening to the gossip about my godmother, 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:13.061 align:middle line:84% her boyfriend, 10 years younger, they shrieked, coliche, 00:02:13.061 --> 00:02:15.840 align:middle line:90% quién te invito? 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.660 align:middle line:84% I told an uncle that he lacked the right chromosome, which 00:02:18.660 --> 00:02:20.700 align:middle line:90% was why he only had daughters. 00:02:20.700 --> 00:02:23.070 align:middle line:90% I'd read that somewhere. 00:02:23.070 --> 00:02:25.680 align:middle line:84% I'll never forget how my mother signaled with her eyes, 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:29.910 align:middle line:84% warning yet amused, how my uncle hollered, cabrona, 00:02:29.910 --> 00:02:34.290 align:middle line:84% somebody should wash your mouth out with soap. 00:02:34.290 --> 00:02:37.800 align:middle line:84% All these names, I saved for myself. 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:41.190 align:middle line:84% When my mother introduced me to her uncle last year, she said, 00:02:41.190 --> 00:02:42.312 align:middle line:84% soy Tomasa, esposa de Manuel, y ésta es mi hija Diana, 00:02:42.312 --> 00:02:42.895 align:middle line:90% la más grande. 00:02:42.895 --> 00:02:48.000 align:middle line:90% 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:51.420 align:middle line:84% There it was, the formal genealogy. 00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:54.540 align:middle line:90% I am Tomasa, wife of Manuel. 00:02:54.540 --> 00:02:59.060 align:middle line:84% And this is my daughter, Diana, the oldest. 00:02:59.060 --> 00:03:02.600 align:middle line:84% I am Diana la cazadora, keening calls 00:03:02.600 --> 00:03:05.960 align:middle line:90% to the hunt on moon-hard nights. 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:11.510 align:middle line:84% I respond to orejona, ears bent to the shape of your size. 00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:14.510 align:middle line:90% Call me la chismosa. 00:03:14.510 --> 00:03:18.860 align:middle line:84% Your secrets glide in neon past my gaze. 00:03:18.860 --> 00:03:25.010 align:middle line:84% Charm me with cabrona, rutting female goat, name of admiration 00:03:25.010 --> 00:03:28.130 align:middle line:90% for those who won't back down. 00:03:28.130 --> 00:03:32.600 align:middle line:84% Beware, la hocicona, the unmuzzled jaw, 00:03:32.600 --> 00:03:35.690 align:middle line:84% the one whose heart rules her tongue, the one whose 00:03:35.690 --> 00:03:39.590 align:middle line:90% tongue savors life." 00:03:39.590 --> 00:03:40.610 align:middle line:90% Ha. 00:03:40.610 --> 00:03:42.410 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:03:42.410 --> 00:03:45.760 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]