WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.360 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:09.830 align:middle line:84% That started out by being about something a little relatively 00:00:09.830 --> 00:00:13.490 align:middle line:84% smaller than the subject matter it got tangled up 00:00:13.490 --> 00:00:15.410 align:middle line:90% with at the end. 00:00:15.410 --> 00:00:17.960 align:middle line:84% I simply wanted to write a poem about the end 00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:23.690 align:middle line:84% of that male fashion in cities at least where 00:00:23.690 --> 00:00:27.020 align:middle line:84% men wore fedora hats everywhere, which 00:00:27.020 --> 00:00:30.920 align:middle line:90% lasted up into about the 1960s. 00:00:30.920 --> 00:00:34.380 align:middle line:84% And the poem is called, "The Death of the Hat." 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:36.360 align:middle line:90% "The Death of the Hat." 00:00:36.360 --> 00:00:39.120 align:middle line:90% "Once, every man wore a hat-- 00:00:39.120 --> 00:00:41.760 align:middle line:84% in the ashen newsreels, the avenues 00:00:41.760 --> 00:00:45.180 align:middle line:84% of cities or broad rivers flowing with hats. 00:00:45.180 --> 00:00:49.500 align:middle line:84% The ballparks swelled with thousands of straw hats, brims 00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:54.030 align:middle line:84% and bands, rows of men smoking and cheering in shirtsleeves. 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:55.650 align:middle line:90% Hats were the law. 00:00:55.650 --> 00:00:57.840 align:middle line:90% They went without saying. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:01.500 align:middle line:84% You noticed a man in the crowd without a hand. 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:06.210 align:middle line:84% You bought them from Adams or Dobbs who branded your initials 00:01:06.210 --> 00:01:08.970 align:middle line:90% in gold on the inside band. 00:01:08.970 --> 00:01:11.310 align:middle line:90% Trolleys criss-crossed the city. 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:13.920 align:middle line:84% Steamships sailed in and out of the harbor. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.860 align:middle line:84% Men with hats gathered on the docks. 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:20.520 align:middle line:84% There was a person to block your hat and a hat check girl 00:01:20.520 --> 00:01:26.070 align:middle line:84% to mind them while you had a drink or ate a steak with peas 00:01:26.070 --> 00:01:31.170 align:middle line:84% and a baked Potato in your office stood a hat rack. 00:01:31.170 --> 00:01:34.140 align:middle line:84% The day war was declared, everyone in the street 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:37.500 align:middle line:84% was wearing a hat, and they were wearing hats 00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:42.750 align:middle line:84% when a ship loaded with men and women sank into the icy sea. 00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:45.660 align:middle line:84% My father wore one to work every day 00:01:45.660 --> 00:01:50.130 align:middle line:84% and returned home carrying the evening paper, the winter chill 00:01:50.130 --> 00:01:52.440 align:middle line:90% radiating from his overcoat. 00:01:52.440 --> 00:01:55.770 align:middle line:84% But, today, we go bare-headed into the winter streets, 00:01:55.770 --> 00:01:59.400 align:middle line:84% stand hatless on frozen platforms. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.040 align:middle line:84% Today, the mailboxes on the roadside 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.620 align:middle line:84% and the spruce trees behind the house 00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:07.740 align:middle line:90% wear cold white hats of snow. 00:02:07.740 --> 00:02:12.690 align:middle line:84% Mice scurry from the stone walls at night in their thin fur hats 00:02:12.690 --> 00:02:15.450 align:middle line:84% to eat the birdseed that has spilled. 00:02:15.450 --> 00:02:19.380 align:middle line:84% And, now, my father, after a life of work, 00:02:19.380 --> 00:02:21.660 align:middle line:90% wears a hat of Earth. 00:02:21.660 --> 00:02:26.250 align:middle line:84% And on top of that, a lighter one of cloud and sky-- 00:02:26.250 --> 00:02:29.470 align:middle line:90% a hat of wind." 00:02:29.470 --> 00:02:39.000 align:middle line:90%