WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.592 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.592 --> 00:00:02.009 align:middle line:84% Now I'm going to read for my book, 00:00:02.009 --> 00:00:05.070 align:middle line:90% "Woman Before an Aquarium." 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:08.610 align:middle line:84% A number of poems before I read some prose things. 00:00:08.610 --> 00:00:10.360 align:middle line:84% I'll read the first poem in the book, 00:00:10.360 --> 00:00:12.060 align:middle line:84% which is called "Mother-Daughter Dance." 00:00:12.060 --> 00:00:13.680 align:middle line:84% And this was one of those poems I 00:00:13.680 --> 00:00:18.570 align:middle line:84% had to get my mom's permission to publish, as you'll discover. 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:21.960 align:middle line:84% She's an epileptic, and there's mention of that in the poem. 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:24.180 align:middle line:84% Which was a deep dark secret in her life, 00:00:24.180 --> 00:00:26.490 align:middle line:90% the one thing one mustn't tell. 00:00:26.490 --> 00:00:28.080 align:middle line:90% And I told. 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:31.860 align:middle line:84% And I said, you know, it's a pretty good poem. 00:00:31.860 --> 00:00:34.120 align:middle line:84% I said, I want to put that at the front of my book. 00:00:34.120 --> 00:00:36.460 align:middle line:84% And she said, oh, you just can't do that. 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:38.970 align:middle line:84% And I said, well I was thinking of calling 00:00:38.970 --> 00:00:41.380 align:middle line:84% the whole book "The Epileptic's Daughter," 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:44.790 align:middle line:84% so you should really consider yourself lucky. 00:00:44.790 --> 00:00:46.185 align:middle line:90% So anyway, we made a compromise. 00:00:46.185 --> 00:00:49.142 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:49.142 --> 00:00:51.350 align:middle line:84% And now she hands out the book at the Red Owl grocery 00:00:51.350 --> 00:00:52.400 align:middle line:90% store to all the neighbors. 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:53.435 align:middle line:90% And so we're both happy. 00:00:53.435 --> 00:00:54.920 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:55.880 align:middle line:90% So I'll read it to you. 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:57.650 align:middle line:90% "Mother-Daughter Dance." 00:00:57.650 --> 00:00:59.030 align:middle line:90% "Because it is late. 00:00:59.030 --> 00:01:00.740 align:middle line:90% Because we fought today. 00:01:00.740 --> 00:01:04.190 align:middle line:84% Because it was hot, and heat is an excuse to be alone. 00:01:04.190 --> 00:01:07.370 align:middle line:84% I sit in this chair, stuffed with old sun. 00:01:07.370 --> 00:01:09.290 align:middle line:90% Leftover heat. 00:01:09.290 --> 00:01:10.850 align:middle line:90% Our fight. 00:01:10.850 --> 00:01:13.220 align:middle line:84% The subject as always was history. 00:01:13.220 --> 00:01:15.710 align:middle line:84% You made me look over my shoulder. 00:01:15.710 --> 00:01:19.310 align:middle line:84% Mother was back there, speaking to us in epilepsy. 00:01:19.310 --> 00:01:21.470 align:middle line:84% That language she learned on her own. 00:01:21.470 --> 00:01:25.130 align:middle line:84% The one we encouraged her to use at the dinner table. 00:01:25.130 --> 00:01:28.280 align:middle line:84% In my mind, I fell down writhing. 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:30.740 align:middle line:84% Trying to make history repeat itself. 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:33.200 align:middle line:84% Burning with translations of guilt 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:35.450 align:middle line:90% for the men in the family. 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:38.900 align:middle line:84% Father forced a yellow pencil between mother's teeth 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:40.280 align:middle line:90% like a rose. 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:43.310 align:middle line:84% You die if you swallow your tongue. 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:47.870 align:middle line:84% All afternoon you yelled at me as I slithered nearer to her. 00:01:47.870 --> 00:01:51.110 align:middle line:84% We were doing the mother-daughter sweat dance. 00:01:51.110 --> 00:01:52.490 align:middle line:90% Salt dance. 00:01:52.490 --> 00:01:55.040 align:middle line:90% Sexy Spanish rose dance. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.610 align:middle line:84% You were yelling from the English language, that fringed 00:01:58.610 --> 00:02:01.040 align:middle line:90% island I swim toward at night. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:04.190 align:middle line:84% The pencil, you were screaming in your language. 00:02:04.190 --> 00:02:06.410 align:middle line:90% Take the pencil from her mouth. 00:02:06.410 --> 00:02:07.730 align:middle line:90% Write it down. 00:02:07.730 --> 00:02:10.976 align:middle line:90% Write your message down." 00:02:10.976 --> 00:02:14.350 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:02:14.350 --> 00:02:16.280 align:middle line:90% 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.050 align:middle line:90% You are a very nice crew.