So CONDUIT came out around the time that I was--
it came up right the summer before I went to art school.
And I did this collaboration.
So I'll play a little bit of it.
[CYMBALS]
[DRUMS]
[CYMBALS]
[ECHOEY VOICE]
When she-- when she-- when she-- when she asks what you've seen,
you say [? shadow ?].
[CYMBALS]
The room is full of shadows.
You've never been to Italy, but declare undying love,
[INAUDIBLE].
[CYMBALS]
[WHOOSHING]
[FAINT MUSIC PLAYING]
It goes on.
But I was doing it because I was super bored of poetry.
Frankly, I just--
I wanted it to do more than just be on the page and be pretty.
It makes you feel things, obviously.
But I think I've been studying it long enough
that I wanted it to do more.
I wanted it to be more.
And going across the aisle with a musician
or with another artist was a way for me
to expand my own poetics.
And I think in terms of spectacle,
if we're going to, as poets and writers
and lovers of literature, expand that love into the greater
community, then we might need a little spectacle.
We might need to spice it up a little bit.
We have to compete with Beyonce.
So since we can't wear booty shorts in a parking lot,
we might have to jazz it up a little bit.
So I think it can't do anything but good to use
spectacle as a way to bridge the gap between a closed book
and having something be alive in your mind and in your heart,
in the world, and helping you evolve as a human being
because you're reading something that changes you.
So I think I'll just read that one piece from CONDUIT
instead of just--