WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.160 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.160 --> 00:00:03.470 align:middle line:84% Now, as some of you know, I have written 00:00:03.470 --> 00:00:06.620 align:middle line:84% and said a lot about this beloved aunt 00:00:06.620 --> 00:00:11.990 align:middle line:90% of mine, whom we called Lobo. 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:16.250 align:middle line:84% And we did that because she would come home at night. 00:00:16.250 --> 00:00:17.630 align:middle line:90% She never married. 00:00:17.630 --> 00:00:19.370 align:middle line:84% And there were four of us at home. 00:00:19.370 --> 00:00:21.350 align:middle line:84% And she was like a second grandmother. 00:00:21.350 --> 00:00:23.090 align:middle line:84% And she would come to the door at night. 00:00:23.090 --> 00:00:25.370 align:middle line:84% And she would knock on the door, and she would say, 00:00:25.370 --> 00:00:28.250 align:middle line:90% ¿Dónde están mis lobitos? 00:00:28.250 --> 00:00:31.760 align:middle line:84% And so she became Lobo, a name that 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.600 align:middle line:90% became perfectly normal to us. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:38.120 align:middle line:84% I have said to audiences, I thought 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:41.660 align:middle line:84% it was a perfectly normal name until the day I used it 00:00:41.660 --> 00:00:43.550 align:middle line:90% on a Juarez streetcar. 00:00:43.550 --> 00:00:47.900 align:middle line:84% And I lost sight of her, and I started saying, "Lobo, Lobo." 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:51.320 align:middle line:84% And all these people looked furious 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:53.540 align:middle line:84% at this disrespectful little girl, 00:00:53.540 --> 00:00:57.290 align:middle line:84% who didn't know how to talk to her aunt. 00:00:57.290 --> 00:00:59.450 align:middle line:84% But I have written a lot about her. 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:02.570 align:middle line:84% And what I have finally concluded 00:01:02.570 --> 00:01:05.630 align:middle line:84% is that she is a very wily character. 00:01:05.630 --> 00:01:09.140 align:middle line:84% Because just when I am through that I have-- 00:01:09.140 --> 00:01:13.670 align:middle line:84% feel like I have said everything I have to say about her, 00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:17.180 align:middle line:90% she slips into another book. 00:01:17.180 --> 00:01:20.030 align:middle line:84% And indeed, the poem about her is the first poem 00:01:20.030 --> 00:01:24.420 align:middle line:84% in the new book, "The Loving Strip." 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:28.560 align:middle line:84% "Not for men alone do we remove our clothes, 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:32.970 align:middle line:84% slowly unbutton ourselves, and stare 00:01:32.970 --> 00:01:39.070 align:middle line:84% at flesh soft as the underside of petals. 00:01:39.070 --> 00:01:43.270 align:middle line:84% The aunt who dressed in black knew how to laugh, 00:01:43.270 --> 00:01:47.980 align:middle line:84% but her scowling tongue ticked, [TONGUE CLICKING],, 00:01:47.980 --> 00:01:55.840 align:middle line:84% each time Rock Hudson pressed his lips on Doris Day. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.477 align:middle line:84% We'd jab Lobo hard, embarrassed at her muttered ¡válgame, Dios, 00:02:00.477 --> 00:02:01.060 align:middle line:90% válgame, Dios! 00:02:01.060 --> 00:02:04.570 align:middle line:90% 00:02:04.570 --> 00:02:10.720 align:middle line:84% But every Sunday, movies, luscious dark. 00:02:10.720 --> 00:02:15.730 align:middle line:84% Afterwards, the depot, trains chugging out, 00:02:15.730 --> 00:02:22.960 align:middle line:84% hand-in-hand walk to the plaza, and Salvation Army time. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:28.900 align:middle line:84% She knew I loved that thumping drum. 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:32.730 align:middle line:84% Lobo's tongue ticked, [TONGUE CLICKING],, 00:02:32.730 --> 00:02:34.600 align:middle line:90% at every man. 00:02:34.600 --> 00:02:37.800 align:middle line:90% But she could melt our frowns. 00:02:37.800 --> 00:02:43.860 align:middle line:84% Daily, she brought Archie comics, Butterfingers. 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:48.330 align:middle line:84% Late at night, she lifted her hand above our bodies, 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:55.080 align:middle line:84% la cruz más grande del mundo, her blessing a sturdy, 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:58.020 align:middle line:90% familiar quilt. 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:04.890 align:middle line:84% Always in black, Lobo never wore slacks, a lady of high collars, 00:03:04.890 --> 00:03:07.920 align:middle line:90% sleeves to her wrists. 00:03:07.920 --> 00:03:14.400 align:middle line:84% Of course, she didn't swim, until the day our tears 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:19.050 align:middle line:84% removed her clothes, the pool sign, 00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:23.910 align:middle line:90% "No bathing without an adult." 00:03:23.910 --> 00:03:27.180 align:middle line:90% She read our sighs. 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:31.410 align:middle line:84% Not for men alone do we remove our clothes. 00:03:31.410 --> 00:03:38.850 align:middle line:84% She rented a black bathing suit, two-piece. 00:03:38.850 --> 00:03:45.300 align:middle line:84% Though I was there, all that flesh and her face 00:03:45.300 --> 00:03:47.850 align:middle line:90% will never match. 00:03:47.850 --> 00:03:52.410 align:middle line:90% And yet, I hear her laugh. 00:03:52.410 --> 00:03:58.500 align:middle line:84% We splash, climb her, dive into ripples 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:06.920 align:middle line:84% green, circle like frisky seals around our rock." 00:04:06.920 --> 00:04:07.485 align:middle line:90%