WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:12.070 align:middle line:84%
Continuing the idea of what
happened to the last frontier

00:00:12.070 --> 00:00:14.470 align:middle line:84%
I have a poem that
perhaps Robert

00:00:14.470 --> 00:00:17.830 align:middle line:90%
Bly read when he was here.

00:00:17.830 --> 00:00:20.320 align:middle line:84%
He organized a series
of anti-Vietnam War

00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.540 align:middle line:84%
read ins of poets and I read
in some of them with him.

00:00:25.540 --> 00:00:29.110 align:middle line:84%
And an anthology was published
called Where is Vietnam?

00:00:29.110 --> 00:00:32.170 align:middle line:90%
American Poets Respond.

00:00:32.170 --> 00:00:39.370 align:middle line:84%
And mine is a
satirical prose tirade

00:00:39.370 --> 00:00:42.130 align:middle line:90%
called "Where is Vietnam?"

00:00:42.130 --> 00:00:46.420 align:middle line:84%
And it's related
to Vietnam the way

00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:51.520 align:middle line:84%
Norman Mailer's latest book is
related to Vietnam, the title

00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:54.790 align:middle line:84%
of which is Why We Are
in Vietnam, I believe

00:00:54.790 --> 00:00:56.724 align:middle line:90%
or Why Are We in Vietnam?

00:00:56.724 --> 00:01:02.660 align:middle line:90%


00:01:02.660 --> 00:01:03.485 align:middle line:90%
"Where is Vietnam?"

00:01:03.485 --> 00:01:07.550 align:middle line:90%


00:01:07.550 --> 00:01:10.610 align:middle line:90%
"Meanwhile, back at the ranch--

00:01:10.610 --> 00:01:15.326 align:middle line:90%


00:01:15.326 --> 00:01:18.230 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:01:18.230 --> 00:01:22.590 align:middle line:90%


00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:29.370 align:middle line:84%
--the then President also
known as Colonel Cornpone

00:01:29.370 --> 00:01:33.750 align:middle line:84%
got out a blank
army draft and began

00:01:33.750 --> 00:01:37.500 align:middle line:90%
to fill in the spaces with men.

00:01:37.500 --> 00:01:43.350 align:middle line:84%
And Colonel Cornpone got down
to the bottom of the order where

00:01:43.350 --> 00:01:45.180 align:middle line:84%
there is a space
to indicate just

00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:50.490 align:middle line:84%
where the troops are to be
sent and Colonel Cornpone

00:01:50.490 --> 00:01:54.750 align:middle line:84%
got a faraway look in
his eye and reached out

00:01:54.750 --> 00:01:58.560 align:middle line:84%
and started spinning
a globe of the world.

00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:02.880 align:middle line:84%
And as I wandered over the
spinning surface of the world

00:02:02.880 --> 00:02:07.910 align:middle line:84%
and after a long time he
said, I see no relief.

00:02:07.910 --> 00:02:12.020 align:middle line:90%


00:02:12.020 --> 00:02:15.995 align:middle line:84%
So they brought him a
relief map of the world.

00:02:15.995 --> 00:02:18.710 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:02:18.710 --> 00:02:21.554 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:21.554 --> 00:02:25.360 align:middle line:90%


00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:29.410 align:middle line:84%
And he looked at it
a long time and said,

00:02:29.410 --> 00:02:36.370 align:middle line:84%
thank you gentlemen I see
it all very clearly now.

00:02:36.370 --> 00:02:42.190 align:middle line:84%
Yes indeed, everything
stands out very clearly now.

00:02:42.190 --> 00:02:45.250 align:middle line:84%
And I can see the oceans
themselves rolling back

00:02:45.250 --> 00:02:48.247 align:middle line:84%
and Western civilization
still marching westward

00:02:48.247 --> 00:02:48.955 align:middle line:90%
around the world.

00:02:48.955 --> 00:02:51.970 align:middle line:90%


00:02:51.970 --> 00:02:56.590 align:middle line:84%
And the new Frontier now
truly knows no boundaries.

00:02:56.590 --> 00:03:00.580 align:middle line:84%
And those there Vietnamese
don't stand a Chinaman's chance

00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:04.540 align:middle line:84%
in hell, but still
there's all these Chinamen

00:03:04.540 --> 00:03:07.600 align:middle line:90%
who think they do.

00:03:07.600 --> 00:03:11.710 align:middle line:84%
And also they think they
can also actually reverse

00:03:11.710 --> 00:03:13.750 align:middle line:84%
the Westward march
of civilization

00:03:13.750 --> 00:03:18.550 align:middle line:84%
and actually reverse a natural
Westward spin of our globe.

00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:22.750 align:middle line:84%
But gentlemen, these
are not war games,

00:03:22.750 --> 00:03:29.050 align:middle line:84%
this is not space angels, this
is the real thing, gentlemen.

00:03:29.050 --> 00:03:32.050 align:middle line:84%
And I know right exactly
where this here Vietnam

00:03:32.050 --> 00:03:33.610 align:middle line:90%
is, gentlemen.

00:03:33.610 --> 00:03:37.390 align:middle line:84%
And I want to make doubly sure
that all our own people know

00:03:37.390 --> 00:03:39.565 align:middle line:84%
right exactly where
this here Vietnam

00:03:39.565 --> 00:03:43.480 align:middle line:84%
is, gentlemen in case any of you
should happen to get cornered

00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:49.190 align:middle line:90%
by some eggheads or someone

00:03:49.190 --> 00:03:53.720 align:middle line:84%
And just then
Ladybird came running

00:03:53.720 --> 00:03:57.380 align:middle line:84%
and Colonel Cornpone
stepped into the cloakroom

00:03:57.380 --> 00:04:03.440 align:middle line:84%
and whispered to her, the world
really does rotate Westward,

00:04:03.440 --> 00:04:04.040 align:middle line:90%
don't it?

00:04:04.040 --> 00:04:09.140 align:middle line:90%


00:04:09.140 --> 00:04:14.360 align:middle line:84%
And she being smarter
than he as is usually

00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:17.630 align:middle line:84%
the case whispered back that
this here Vietnam was not

00:04:17.630 --> 00:04:21.140 align:middle line:90%
a place but a state of mind.

00:04:21.140 --> 00:04:23.990 align:middle line:84%
And Colonel Cornpone got
that old faraway look again

00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:26.120 align:middle line:84%
and stepped back onto the
front porch where they

00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:29.360 align:middle line:84%
keep the rockers and sat
there rocking for a long time

00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:40.730 align:middle line:84%
and then said, gentlemen,
I am a family man

00:04:40.730 --> 00:04:43.910 align:middle line:90%
and this is for real.

00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:49.580 align:middle line:84%
And I am hereby ordering the
complete and final liberation

00:04:49.580 --> 00:04:54.440 align:middle line:84%
of Vietmind, I mean Vietnam,
for the roots of the trouble

00:04:54.440 --> 00:04:57.830 align:middle line:84%
are found wherever the
landless and oppressed,

00:04:57.830 --> 00:05:02.240 align:middle line:84%
the poor and despised stand
before the gates of opportunity

00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:04.400 align:middle line:84%
and are not allowed
Across the frontier

00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:10.580 align:middle line:84%
into the Great Society which
seems to lie out before me like

00:05:10.580 --> 00:05:13.560 align:middle line:90%
a land of dreams.

00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.280 align:middle line:90%
And so, gentlemen here we go.

00:05:16.280 --> 00:05:18.710 align:middle line:90%
Fasten your seatbelts.

00:05:18.710 --> 00:05:21.750 align:middle line:84%
We are powerful
and free and united

00:05:21.750 --> 00:05:24.870 align:middle line:90%
there ain't much we can do.

00:05:24.870 --> 00:05:27.440 align:middle line:84%
And so gentlemen,
let me point out

00:05:27.440 --> 00:05:29.960 align:middle line:84%
to you exactly where
it is we are all

00:05:29.960 --> 00:05:32.000 align:middle line:90%
going on this here globe.

00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.320 align:middle line:84%
Because gentlemen even
though I am reputed never

00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:41.210 align:middle line:84%
to have been out of the United
States and its possessions I do

00:05:41.210 --> 00:05:44.300 align:middle line:84%
know right where we are going
on the brink of Vietmind,

00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:46.220 align:middle line:90%
I mean Vietnam.

00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:48.740 align:middle line:84%
And even though we don't want
to stop the world spinning

00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:51.920 align:middle line:84%
in the right direction
even for an instant I do

00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.740 align:middle line:84%
want to slow it down just
long enough for me to put

00:05:54.740 --> 00:05:57.620 align:middle line:84%
my finger for you right on
this here sore spot which

00:05:57.620 --> 00:05:59.480 align:middle line:90%
is Vietmine, I'm in Vietnam.

00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.120 align:middle line:90%


00:06:02.120 --> 00:06:06.830 align:middle line:84%
And Colonel Cornpone
put out his hand

00:06:06.830 --> 00:06:09.120 align:middle line:84%
to slow down the
world just a bit.

00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.240 align:middle line:84%
But this world would not
be slowed down a bit,

00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:13.850 align:middle line:84%
this world would not
stop spinning at all.

00:06:13.850 --> 00:06:18.650 align:middle line:84%
And Texas and Vietnam spun
on together faster and faster

00:06:18.650 --> 00:06:21.320 align:middle line:84%
slipping away under
Colonel Cornpone's hand

00:06:21.320 --> 00:06:23.390 align:middle line:84%
because the surface
of this world

00:06:23.390 --> 00:06:26.090 align:middle line:84%
had suddenly become
very, very slippery

00:06:26.090 --> 00:06:28.520 align:middle line:84%
with a strange
kind of red liquid

00:06:28.520 --> 00:06:32.640 align:middle line:84%
that ran on it across all
the obscene boundaries.

00:06:32.640 --> 00:06:36.260 align:middle line:84%
And this world went on
spinning faster and faster

00:06:36.260 --> 00:06:39.260 align:middle line:84%
in the same so
predestined direction

00:06:39.260 --> 00:06:43.820 align:middle line:84%
and kept on spinning and
spinning and spinning

00:06:43.820 --> 00:06:46.880 align:middle line:90%
and spinning and spinning."

00:06:46.880 --> 00:06:49.930 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:06:49.930 --> 00:07:12.000 align:middle line:90%