WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.130 align:middle line:84% I want to read a few poems from my book, 00:00:02.130 --> 00:00:04.770 align:middle line:84% but I'm more interested in the new books. 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:08.010 align:middle line:84% I'm going to concentrate on that. 00:00:08.010 --> 00:00:10.065 align:middle line:84% This is a poem called, "If I had it to do again." 00:00:10.065 --> 00:00:13.430 align:middle line:90% 00:00:13.430 --> 00:00:15.440 align:middle line:84% It's one of the poems that I'm happiest 00:00:15.440 --> 00:00:20.327 align:middle line:84% about in the first book because one always gets reservations 00:00:20.327 --> 00:00:22.160 align:middle line:84% because you're in a constant state of change 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:23.768 align:middle line:90% as you continue writing. 00:00:23.768 --> 00:00:26.060 align:middle line:84% I'm not completely happy with the very end of the poem, 00:00:26.060 --> 00:00:28.860 align:middle line:84% but it's kind of a wish fulfillment poem. 00:00:28.860 --> 00:00:33.470 align:middle line:84% It's a poem about the poet, or the personality, the charisma 00:00:33.470 --> 00:00:38.560 align:middle line:84% that I would have liked to have been, but never became. 00:00:38.560 --> 00:00:41.060 align:middle line:90% It's a persona poem. 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:43.310 align:middle line:84% The persona in the poem that I'm identifying with 00:00:43.310 --> 00:00:45.260 align:middle line:84% is named Robert, and so that there 00:00:45.260 --> 00:00:47.217 align:middle line:84% is no confusion over this point, there 00:00:47.217 --> 00:00:48.800 align:middle line:84% is no reason why his name will appear. 00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:51.410 align:middle line:84% I think I liked the name at the time I wrote the poem. 00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:53.000 align:middle line:84% And it being a wish fulfillment poem, 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:55.100 align:middle line:90% I could get away with anything. 00:00:55.100 --> 00:01:01.340 align:middle line:84% "If I had it to do again" Of the bloody palette who is it? 00:01:01.340 --> 00:01:04.040 align:middle line:90% Robert, boy without fame. 00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:05.690 align:middle line:90% Dishwasher. 00:01:05.690 --> 00:01:08.960 align:middle line:84% Poet who cracks the cups and the restaurant steel 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:13.940 align:middle line:84% sink, who bites his tongue raw for spite. 00:01:13.940 --> 00:01:16.650 align:middle line:84% The hours are piling into his head. 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:18.620 align:middle line:90% He's not thinking about it. 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:22.400 align:middle line:84% The editors are insulting each other outside his door. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.960 align:middle line:90% So he's not there. 00:01:24.960 --> 00:01:29.030 align:middle line:84% Meanwhile downtown, he's meeting one friend and another. 00:01:29.030 --> 00:01:32.030 align:middle line:84% He carries his jacket like a sleeping negro 00:01:32.030 --> 00:01:33.680 align:middle line:90% over his shoulder. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:35.840 align:middle line:84% Hiya, hiya, says the first friend. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.210 align:middle line:90% Hiya, says the other. 00:01:38.210 --> 00:01:40.560 align:middle line:90% Shall I tell you about him? 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:43.580 align:middle line:84% He reads the poetry of friends without envy. 00:01:43.580 --> 00:01:46.220 align:middle line:84% He's maybe not a fairy, but he can touch a man's arm 00:01:46.220 --> 00:01:48.170 align:middle line:90% with no embarrassment. 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.870 align:middle line:84% His women are loved without promises, 00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:53.480 align:middle line:84% but all the while, he's looking them in the eye 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.710 align:middle line:84% and he can let his penis sleep in a widow's hand. 00:01:57.710 --> 00:01:59.490 align:middle line:90% He made a fool out of him. 00:01:59.490 --> 00:02:01.530 align:middle line:90% He never knew it. 00:02:01.530 --> 00:02:04.280 align:middle line:84% So here we are again, reading each other's verse 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:07.100 align:middle line:90% in the high, believable grass. 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:11.060 align:middle line:84% Robert, I say, if you gave it all up. 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:12.770 align:middle line:90% He agrees. 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:17.200 align:middle line:84% Robert, boy dishwasher, poet without fame.