WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.130 align:middle line:90%


00:00:04.130 --> 00:00:06.830 align:middle line:84%
Now I will switch to the
poem with the dumbest

00:00:06.830 --> 00:00:10.800 align:middle line:84%
title I have ever composed,
but I like the poem.

00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:13.265 align:middle line:84%
It's called "Self-Portrait
as Sock Puppet."

00:00:13.265 --> 00:00:16.550 align:middle line:90%


00:00:16.550 --> 00:00:20.300 align:middle line:84%
"My son offers eyes,
scavenging the plastic box

00:00:20.300 --> 00:00:24.910 align:middle line:84%
and gluing me lidless near
the hole beneath my cranium.

00:00:24.910 --> 00:00:29.420 align:middle line:84%
Now the images pour forth,
table strewn alchemical.

00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:31.940 align:middle line:90%
A button for the mouth--

00:00:31.940 --> 00:00:33.750 align:middle line:90%
a button for the nostrils.

00:00:33.750 --> 00:00:37.760 align:middle line:84%
And he bends to offer breath
from dust, a mouth of pipe

00:00:37.760 --> 00:00:41.420 align:middle line:84%
cleaner, coiled
to enable speech.

00:00:41.420 --> 00:00:46.820 align:middle line:84%
Sequin and bead unsilence me,
affixed against each temple.

00:00:46.820 --> 00:00:50.250 align:middle line:84%
Thus, he bids me
speak, and I obey,

00:00:50.250 --> 00:00:55.250 align:middle line:84%
for he touches my fledgling
tongue with a glowing coal.

00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:58.610 align:middle line:84%
Yarn for my hair,
yarn for my chin,

00:00:58.610 --> 00:01:02.870 align:middle line:84%
and he teaches, sound by sound,
the shimmering unhanseled

00:01:02.870 --> 00:01:05.390 align:middle line:90%
quaver that becomes my name.

00:01:05.390 --> 00:01:10.190 align:middle line:84%
I speak it brokenly, not
yet certain what I am.

00:01:10.190 --> 00:01:12.140 align:middle line:90%
Fingers curl.

00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.895 align:middle line:84%
Into my new skin,
he guides my hand."

00:01:15.895 --> 00:01:16.395 align:middle line:90%