WEBVTT

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So when Annie invited me to
be part of "Off the Page,"

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I was thrilled and startled
at the same time, that

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how come it's suddenly
become visible

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that the thread could suddenly
be an equal to the text?

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That was something that
gave me a lot of joy.

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And so I came here.

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And she wanted for me
to do an installation.

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But I saw that
already many artists

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have done thread pieces
installations in the Poetry

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Center.

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So I didn't want to do any such
thing even though I have been

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doing such things for 40 years.

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My first thread piece
weaving an architectural site

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that is recorded was from 1971.

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It was done in my
bedroom in [? Con Con ?]..

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And actually, I brought
with me a few cards

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that I can share with
you after this session

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about the different ripples and
consequences of having done all

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this work out in
space in the beaches,

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to be erased by the
ocean, in the streets,

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to be trampled by
the passers-by.

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All this work that
is invisible and has

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formed a part of the circulation
of life has had a trail.

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And it has consequences
in many poetries,

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in many works as time passes.

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And so, I will
share that with you.

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But getting back to where I was,
which I have completely lost--

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and where was I?

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I think I was at
the Poetry Center.

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And I didn't want to
do a thread piece.

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So I proposed to Annie that I
would do a piece weaving people

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in the streets of Tucson and
weaving the Poetry Center back

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to the desert, back
to the land itself.

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And so my
improvisation yesterday

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was a little bit about
that, about the fact

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that it turned out that there
were no people in Tucson

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because everybody is so hot
that they are all inside.

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So we ended up
weaving the saguaros.

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We were weaving
[? these threads ?],,,,

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weaving all kinds
of things like that

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because people were
just not available.

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And so I left a few
traces, two or three

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little fragments of thread,
here at the Poetry Center

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for people to just simply
experience the indication

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that this thread, whatever--

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I love the idea that
somebody, I think

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it's you that they
were quoting, perhaps,

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Johanna Drucker about
materiality being probability.

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The word matter is also
associated to mother.

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So who is the mother of matter?

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The mother of matter, of
course, is love, is energy.

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Energy is a form of love.

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And that is my view.

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And so even the smallest the
weakest fragment of thread

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conveys all the threadness,
all the web of life,

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as far as I'm concerned.

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I love also what you say,
about the peace aspect of page

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also including some violence.

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And it is very
extraordinary that I

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have done very many
architectural, huge, monumental

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weavings associated
to small towns where

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the streets are woven or--

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buildings, many floors
of building woven.

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And I have very
often encountered

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that these threads are perceived
by the people as an attack.

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What is it that is aggressive
about a thread lying

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on the floor or a thread
crossing and uniting two poles?

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And people have attacked, in
turn, the thread, burnt them,

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cut them.

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So what is it about the
idea of the umbilical cord

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of the mother or the thread
associated to the life

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force itself as it's
carried between,

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within the mitochondria,
that is only

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carried by the female force,
by the female side of the life

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force?

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So there's something
in our culture.

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And this is part of
the intent of my work.

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It feels-- for example,
this morning just

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before coming here, I was
in a Skype conversation

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with my partner,
who is in New York.

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And he was telling
me that Bill Moyers

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had interviewed Luis Urrea--

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I think you pronounce
You-ree-uh in English--

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how he is being censored by
the school district in here

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in Arizona so that he won't
be able to have his books

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accessible to children here.

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And I thought it
was pretty amazing.

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There was a gentleman
here last night

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that was bringing up that.

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But a lady came up to me later.

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I don't know if she's here.

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I don't see her.

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She came to me.

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And she said it's not
about Black and Brown.

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We're all oppressed.

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Our connectedness to the life
force and our connectedness

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to the idea that we can affect
the world through poetry, that

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is what is being cut off,
disconnected, prevented,

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censored, banned.

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And it's banned
by the worldview.

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And everybody collaborates
with that worldview

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without being completely aware
that you are collaborating

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with the enemy.

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So that's one of the
projects that we're

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working with with a group
of artists and poets,

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creating a collective
project precisely

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to undo this
worldview, because this

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is what's killing the Earth.

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So each time you
do something that

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is so nothing, like
a piece of thread,

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you are really working with
the spirit of connectedness.

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And the last thing I would say
is that there is a scientist--

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I read a lot of science.

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I'm very connected with
the scientific world

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through my imagination.

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The scientific world doesn't
know it and doesn't want

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to know it because they have
the hierarchical idea that they

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know what we don't.

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And we have to bridge
that because poets have

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to interfere with scientists.

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Otherwise scientists
are going to get away.

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They're planning now to set
the golden standard for truth.

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Can you believe that?

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So I don't want to
be left out of that.

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So that's also part
of our project.

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And you're all invited
to take part in.

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This scientist-- this is
the last quote I will say.

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David Deutsch says that
now, quantum physics

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has arrived at the point where
the huge gap between quantum

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physics and classical
physics is going

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to be bridged by a system by
which science communicates

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with the multiverse and
interacts with the multiverse.

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And I thought--I thought--I
thought--I thought,

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what a fantastic idea, that they
think they are arriving there

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were ancient peoples have
been there all along.

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That's all.

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