WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.020 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.020 --> 00:00:06.460 align:middle line:84% Faye Kicknosway comes to us from near Detroit, Michigan. 00:00:06.460 --> 00:00:08.790 align:middle line:84% She's published five collections of poetry. 00:00:08.790 --> 00:00:12.900 align:middle line:84% Most recently, The Cat Approaches, 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:16.800 align:middle line:84% and she has illustrated all but one of her own books. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.440 align:middle line:84% I hope you'll have a chance to see copies of The Cat 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.630 align:middle line:84% Approaches when we go over for the cookies 00:00:21.630 --> 00:00:23.685 align:middle line:90% and see the pictures in it too. 00:00:23.685 --> 00:00:25.304 align:middle line:90% Miss Faye Kicknosway. 00:00:25.304 --> 00:00:28.762 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:28.762 --> 00:01:04.840 align:middle line:90% 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:07.390 align:middle line:90% I invent a chair. 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:09.290 align:middle line:90% No legs. 00:01:09.290 --> 00:01:11.370 align:middle line:90% No back. 00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:13.170 align:middle line:90% No seat. 00:01:13.170 --> 00:01:15.470 align:middle line:90% No armrests. 00:01:15.470 --> 00:01:19.140 align:middle line:90% It is a very simple chair. 00:01:19.140 --> 00:01:24.230 align:middle line:90% I invent noise, and regret it. 00:01:24.230 --> 00:01:30.920 align:middle line:84% I invent collars, garters, stays, padded bras, girdles, 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.510 align:middle line:84% tight pants, indigestion, constipation, insomnia, 00:01:35.510 --> 00:01:40.820 align:middle line:84% and bad breath all on the same day. 00:01:40.820 --> 00:01:45.410 align:middle line:84% I invent remember and forget where it left its gloves 00:01:45.410 --> 00:01:47.870 align:middle line:90% and ask it to go and find them. 00:01:47.870 --> 00:01:49.370 align:middle line:90% I sit down. 00:01:49.370 --> 00:01:52.790 align:middle line:84% Listen to drawers open and close. 00:01:52.790 --> 00:01:54.320 align:middle line:90% Days pass. 00:01:54.320 --> 00:01:59.450 align:middle line:84% Finally, it brings me its hat, its tea, 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:03.420 align:middle line:90% and a few comic phrases. 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:05.100 align:middle line:90% I invent chimneys. 00:02:05.100 --> 00:02:09.389 align:middle line:84% The most difficult chimneys that begin deep in the Earth 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:12.855 align:middle line:84% where it is too hot, and the bricks keep melting. 00:02:12.855 --> 00:02:15.590 align:middle line:90% 00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:19.340 align:middle line:84% I invent the late children, lost between the lawn 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:21.110 align:middle line:90% and the front door. 00:02:21.110 --> 00:02:24.050 align:middle line:84% I invent their little, distracted faces. 00:02:24.050 --> 00:02:26.870 align:middle line:84% Their sunburned, itchy shoulders. 00:02:26.870 --> 00:02:30.140 align:middle line:90% Their dance steps and daydreams. 00:02:30.140 --> 00:02:34.440 align:middle line:84% Then I wait for them to come home. 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:37.380 align:middle line:84% I invent the boat that is not on the river, 00:02:37.380 --> 00:02:40.770 align:middle line:84% nor on the ground near the river. 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:45.090 align:middle line:84% I invent the boat that is inside the eyes of the man who 00:02:45.090 --> 00:02:50.925 align:middle line:84% sits legs up beside the freeway fence watching the traffic. 00:02:50.925 --> 00:02:54.390 align:middle line:90% 00:02:54.390 --> 00:02:55.740 align:middle line:90% Short story. 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:58.500 align:middle line:90% The rings and Donkeys and Sand. 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:03.360 align:middle line:90% 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:06.330 align:middle line:84% Once there was a small flea who loved 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:09.780 align:middle line:84% to sing Italian opera while sunbathing 00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:14.550 align:middle line:84% in between the hairs of a small German sheepdog asleep 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:16.470 align:middle line:90% on the Cote d'Azur. 00:03:16.470 --> 00:03:19.230 align:middle line:84% There was another flea, his brother, 00:03:19.230 --> 00:03:23.490 align:middle line:84% who lived a miserly, niggardly life on the back 00:03:23.490 --> 00:03:25.920 align:middle line:90% of a Mexican hairless. 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:29.280 align:middle line:84% Their sister, Roxanne, dissatisfied 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:33.510 align:middle line:84% with her ordinary life, ran away with a flea circus, 00:03:33.510 --> 00:03:39.090 align:middle line:84% and after leading a long, horribly dissipated life, 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:44.870 align:middle line:84% died an anonymous death in the tail of a black Pekingese. 00:03:44.870 --> 00:03:49.780 align:middle line:90% 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:52.330 align:middle line:84% The naked man wears a hat because he 00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:54.790 align:middle line:90% is worried about his hair. 00:03:54.790 --> 00:04:00.550 align:middle line:84% It escapes by wagon, by dog sled, and camel out the window. 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:05.290 align:middle line:84% He sucks his mustache, glares, and is not happy being naked, 00:04:05.290 --> 00:04:08.380 align:middle line:84% but he is afraid bees will fly up his shirt sleeves 00:04:08.380 --> 00:04:11.920 align:middle line:84% and sting him or up his pant legs and sting him. 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:14.230 align:middle line:90% Clothes are perilous. 00:04:14.230 --> 00:04:19.360 align:middle line:84% One takes one's life into one's hands wearing them. 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:24.820 align:middle line:84% The naked man is annoyed and stands in the corner calmly, 00:04:24.820 --> 00:04:26.560 align:middle line:90% ceremoniously. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:29.650 align:middle line:84% He will not get dressed because there 00:04:29.650 --> 00:04:34.090 align:middle line:84% is no other light in the room save the one shining 00:04:34.090 --> 00:04:36.980 align:middle line:90% through his skin. 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:41.680 align:middle line:84% This is divided into wet and dry. 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:43.750 align:middle line:90% He has taken his underwear off. 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:45.430 align:middle line:90% His mustache. 00:04:45.430 --> 00:04:49.270 align:middle line:84% He looks at his toes through his foliage. 00:04:49.270 --> 00:04:51.580 align:middle line:90% Look at those toes, he says. 00:04:51.580 --> 00:04:55.690 align:middle line:90% I'm going to wash them. 00:04:55.690 --> 00:04:58.000 align:middle line:84% The naked man looks in the bathroom. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.460 align:middle line:84% There is a spider in the bathtub. 00:05:00.460 --> 00:05:03.880 align:middle line:84% He yells for the children to catch it in toilet paper, 00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.780 align:middle line:84% and he weeps bitterly when they refuse. 00:05:07.780 --> 00:05:09.580 align:middle line:90% He looks in the mirror. 00:05:09.580 --> 00:05:12.220 align:middle line:90% Why is his hair so wet? 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:14.930 align:middle line:84% It is too close to the light bulb. 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:17.410 align:middle line:84% He throws his clothes out the window. 00:05:17.410 --> 00:05:19.840 align:middle line:90% It comforts him. 00:05:19.840 --> 00:05:22.300 align:middle line:90% I invent a nightgown for him. 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:25.330 align:middle line:84% He has his pants off and is attracted. 00:05:25.330 --> 00:05:27.130 align:middle line:90% I hand it to him. 00:05:27.130 --> 00:05:32.200 align:middle line:84% He hangs it on his fingers, on his mustache. 00:05:32.200 --> 00:05:35.860 align:middle line:84% He ties his fingers into pretty bows behind his back 00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:38.440 align:middle line:84% and walks pigeon toed through the house, 00:05:38.440 --> 00:05:41.170 align:middle line:84% simping through his mustache, I'm 00:05:41.170 --> 00:05:43.720 align:middle line:84% the little, old lady who cares for you. 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:46.570 align:middle line:90% I'm your mother. 00:05:46.570 --> 00:05:48.490 align:middle line:90% She was rude. 00:05:48.490 --> 00:05:50.695 align:middle line:90% He was naked singing. 00:05:50.695 --> 00:05:56.590 align:middle line:90% 00:05:56.590 --> 00:06:04.080 align:middle line:90% Gracie, 1967. 00:06:04.080 --> 00:06:08.430 align:middle line:84% You're a hillbilly, and you come to a place like Detroit. 00:06:08.430 --> 00:06:12.150 align:middle line:84% A place bigger than any place you've ever been. 00:06:12.150 --> 00:06:16.320 align:middle line:84% All you can do is pass coffee over a counter. 00:06:16.320 --> 00:06:21.180 align:middle line:84% A dark, foreign man comes along and asks you to marry him. 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:26.370 align:middle line:84% You go home dressed all right and wearing nice jewelry. 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:28.320 align:middle line:84% You parked the car at the foot of the road 00:06:28.320 --> 00:06:32.940 align:middle line:84% because it's springtime, and you walk up the hill to the house. 00:06:32.940 --> 00:06:36.390 align:middle line:84% Ma sticks her hand out the window waving 00:06:36.390 --> 00:06:39.660 align:middle line:90% until she sees how dark he is. 00:06:39.660 --> 00:06:41.280 align:middle line:90% What does she know? 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:44.520 align:middle line:84% How far past the chicken coop did she ever go? 00:06:44.520 --> 00:06:47.250 align:middle line:84% How many men in the bushes and in cars 00:06:47.250 --> 00:06:51.090 align:middle line:84% at the side of the road with their mouths and their zippers? 00:06:51.090 --> 00:06:55.590 align:middle line:84% How far past the chicken coop did she ever go telling me, 00:06:55.590 --> 00:06:58.890 align:middle line:90% didn't I raise you better? 00:06:58.890 --> 00:07:01.530 align:middle line:84% She thinks it's easy living up here. 00:07:01.530 --> 00:07:04.530 align:middle line:84% Men are falling over themselves to marry me. 00:07:04.530 --> 00:07:07.080 align:middle line:84% What I do, because that's what they're 00:07:07.080 --> 00:07:09.300 align:middle line:90% thinking when they look at me. 00:07:09.300 --> 00:07:12.060 align:middle line:90% What I do. 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:16.620 align:middle line:84% No man is going to kill himself hauling me off to a preacher. 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:21.150 align:middle line:84% What does she know always around the house, never farther 00:07:21.150 --> 00:07:24.150 align:middle line:84% than the chicken yard, except maybe the church. 00:07:24.150 --> 00:07:27.720 align:middle line:84% Sometimes, down the road wearing a bonnet. 00:07:27.720 --> 00:07:31.071 align:middle line:84% How can she say she raised me better? 00:07:31.071 --> 00:07:32.940 align:middle line:90% Better than what? 00:07:32.940 --> 00:07:37.140 align:middle line:84% I'm supposed to spend my life feeding the chickens? 00:07:37.140 --> 00:07:39.948 align:middle line:90% Better than what? 00:07:39.948 --> 00:07:41.940 align:middle line:90% What does she know? 00:07:41.940 --> 00:07:46.050 align:middle line:84% So he's dark and short and talks funny. 00:07:46.050 --> 00:07:48.900 align:middle line:84% No other man asked me to marry him. 00:07:48.900 --> 00:07:53.790 align:middle line:84% No other man put his hands on me like I'm special. 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:56.040 align:middle line:84% I'm supposed to look at how dark he is 00:07:56.040 --> 00:07:59.370 align:middle line:84% and listen to how funny he talks and tell him to go 00:07:59.370 --> 00:08:02.400 align:middle line:90% when he asked me to marry him. 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:06.960 align:middle line:84% I go home with my husband to introduce him to my folks, 00:08:06.960 --> 00:08:10.350 align:middle line:84% and my daddy comes around the side of the house, 00:08:10.350 --> 00:08:13.800 align:middle line:84% and my two brothers stand on the porch with their hands tucked 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:18.270 align:middle line:84% into their pants, and my mama stops waving, howdy do, 00:08:18.270 --> 00:08:23.370 align:middle line:84% welcome, and points her finger at him, at my husband, 00:08:23.370 --> 00:08:27.690 align:middle line:84% and says, what are you bringing home, sister? 00:08:27.690 --> 00:08:29.160 align:middle line:90% What are you bringing home? 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:38.299 align:middle line:90% 00:08:38.299 --> 00:08:42.409 align:middle line:84% I was dragged down from my room at the top of the house one 00:08:42.409 --> 00:08:44.600 align:middle line:90% year when the wind threatened. 00:08:44.600 --> 00:08:48.910 align:middle line:90% 00:08:48.910 --> 00:08:53.410 align:middle line:84% Mama had heard it first on the radio and had turned it off 00:08:53.410 --> 00:08:57.070 align:middle line:84% and all the lights off and would have torn the telephone 00:08:57.070 --> 00:09:00.970 align:middle line:84% from the wall thinking the wind and electricity would 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:03.340 align:middle line:84% be attracted to us down the wires, 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:06.100 align:middle line:90% but father would not let her. 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:08.890 align:middle line:84% I was dragged down and in my father's arms, 00:09:08.890 --> 00:09:11.770 align:middle line:84% and I was small enough not to understand the noise I 00:09:11.770 --> 00:09:14.440 align:middle line:90% heard, nor the smell of fear. 00:09:14.440 --> 00:09:18.110 align:middle line:84% My mother's voice sounding harsh and angry, 00:09:18.110 --> 00:09:22.240 align:middle line:84% and she coaxed at my sister to be calm at me, 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:26.080 align:middle line:84% although I was rolled up like a little cat against my father's 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.700 align:middle line:90% sweaty shirt. 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:33.860 align:middle line:84% Things broke free from the house clattering against it. 00:09:33.860 --> 00:09:37.220 align:middle line:84% I slept tucked into my father's arms, 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:40.460 align:middle line:90% his chest noisy against my ear. 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:42.860 align:middle line:84% I woke up sometimes and saw my sisters 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:44.720 align:middle line:90% sitting in a chair near mother. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:48.770 align:middle line:84% The both of them stiff as my sister's dolls. 00:09:48.770 --> 00:09:51.440 align:middle line:84% Their hands were held in fists between them, 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:55.470 align:middle line:84% and their eyes were opened so wide I saw the whites clearly, 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:58.160 align:middle line:90% even in the dark. 00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:02.840 align:middle line:84% The room we were in smelled wet, and I could not remember it. 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.030 align:middle line:90% It was so changed by the light. 00:10:06.030 --> 00:10:08.370 align:middle line:90% The chairs rose and fell. 00:10:08.370 --> 00:10:10.440 align:middle line:84% They were thicker than I remembered them, 00:10:10.440 --> 00:10:12.660 align:middle line:84% and they burst and opened and seemed 00:10:12.660 --> 00:10:17.630 align:middle line:84% to bend from stalks that began under the floor of the house. 00:10:17.630 --> 00:10:19.250 align:middle line:90% The tables glowed. 00:10:19.250 --> 00:10:23.930 align:middle line:84% Their polished faces bright as the edges of flowers. 00:10:23.930 --> 00:10:26.870 align:middle line:90% Oh, mama, we'll be killed. 00:10:26.870 --> 00:10:29.600 align:middle line:84% My sister cried, and as I looked at her, 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:34.170 align:middle line:84% the light seemed to break her face into pieces. 00:10:34.170 --> 00:10:36.950 align:middle line:84% And I took that image of her into my sleep, 00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:39.380 align:middle line:84% and cradled in my father's arms, I 00:10:39.380 --> 00:10:44.030 align:middle line:84% dreamed she walked out into the rushes and weeds near the river 00:10:44.030 --> 00:10:47.450 align:middle line:84% and was taken slowly by the black water. 00:10:47.450 --> 00:10:49.670 align:middle line:90% First, to the knees. 00:10:49.670 --> 00:10:54.740 align:middle line:84% Her arms held out stiffly in the air, and then to her waist. 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:57.320 align:middle line:84% Her white dress floating out around her 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:01.040 align:middle line:84% like it was growing up from the water, and she had entered it. 00:11:01.040 --> 00:11:04.730 align:middle line:84% The meaty, large petals of a flower. 00:11:04.730 --> 00:11:07.190 align:middle line:90% It was like a bell or a globe. 00:11:07.190 --> 00:11:10.370 align:middle line:84% She hung at its center, and I watched the petals 00:11:10.370 --> 00:11:13.880 align:middle line:90% lift up and close around her. 00:11:13.880 --> 00:11:16.350 align:middle line:84% I cried out for her to come back, 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:20.380 align:middle line:84% but the flowers sank into the water. 00:11:20.380 --> 00:11:22.670 align:middle line:84% I made a net of my hair and cast it 00:11:22.670 --> 00:11:26.480 align:middle line:84% into the water dragging against its weight. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:30.380 align:middle line:84% A dark thing, woven of sticks and reeds, 00:11:30.380 --> 00:11:32.690 align:middle line:90% rose up from the water. 00:11:32.690 --> 00:11:35.750 align:middle line:84% I threw hands full of mud and weeds at it, 00:11:35.750 --> 00:11:40.100 align:middle line:84% but it pulled at the net drawing me into the water. 00:11:40.100 --> 00:11:44.150 align:middle line:84% I awoke believing that it held me. 00:11:44.150 --> 00:11:49.880 align:middle line:84% My father tried to comfort me, alarmed at how afraid I was. 00:11:49.880 --> 00:11:53.570 align:middle line:90% 00:11:53.570 --> 00:11:57.950 align:middle line:84% I mean, I've never been in a big storm, but where I live, 00:11:57.950 --> 00:12:00.090 align:middle line:84% there are tornado warnings all the time. 00:12:00.090 --> 00:12:04.550 align:middle line:84% And one went off, and there was a loud wind, 00:12:04.550 --> 00:12:06.410 align:middle line:84% and I have a 10-year-old daughter, 00:12:06.410 --> 00:12:12.020 align:middle line:84% and there was a thunder, and it hit, 00:12:12.020 --> 00:12:15.140 align:middle line:84% made a sound very close to the apartment. 00:12:15.140 --> 00:12:18.770 align:middle line:84% And it shook, and my daughter looked at me, and she said, 00:12:18.770 --> 00:12:20.790 align:middle line:90% I don't want to die. 00:12:20.790 --> 00:12:25.940 align:middle line:84% And I never thought that she thought like that. 00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:32.060 align:middle line:84% And my grandmother, when she had lived on the farm, 00:12:32.060 --> 00:12:33.260 align:middle line:90% they had a telephone. 00:12:33.260 --> 00:12:35.690 align:middle line:84% And during a storm once, electricity 00:12:35.690 --> 00:12:39.320 align:middle line:84% was attracted down the wire, and hit her, 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:41.687 align:middle line:84% threw her across the room, and she never 00:12:41.687 --> 00:12:43.145 align:middle line:84% had another telephone in her house. 00:12:43.145 --> 00:12:46.200 align:middle line:90% 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:49.100 align:middle line:84% So those are the two incidents that 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:50.600 align:middle line:90% triggered that particular poem. 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:57.890 align:middle line:90% 00:12:57.890 --> 00:13:00.770 align:middle line:84% Do you know what they did to grandpa? 00:13:00.770 --> 00:13:03.440 align:middle line:90% They put his box on the river. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.250 align:middle line:84% They put it on the river and him in it dressed up 00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:12.560 align:middle line:84% so dandy, so peaceful in all that bedding with his eyes shut 00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:14.570 align:middle line:90% and his nose shut. 00:13:14.570 --> 00:13:18.740 align:middle line:84% They sailed him out on the river like he was in a boat. 00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:20.120 align:middle line:90% They nailed it up. 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.970 align:middle line:84% The air in it fluffing out his pillow, 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:26.090 align:middle line:84% fattening out his handkerchief and his pocket. 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:29.900 align:middle line:84% They took it down from their shoulders there in the reeds 00:13:29.900 --> 00:13:31.550 align:middle line:90% by the bank of the river. 00:13:31.550 --> 00:13:34.220 align:middle line:84% They took it down, and he said nothing, 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:37.160 align:middle line:84% nor did he stir about inside it, although he 00:13:37.160 --> 00:13:38.960 align:middle line:90% had a fear of the water. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:40.760 align:middle line:90% And he never went near it. 00:13:40.760 --> 00:13:43.970 align:middle line:84% They put him down beside it, letting go the little, 00:13:43.970 --> 00:13:45.200 align:middle line:90% brass handles. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.080 align:middle line:84% And they scooped water up and onto their heads 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:51.320 align:middle line:84% with their hands, and they kneeled beside it, 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:53.960 align:middle line:84% and they splashed it up at one another. 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:56.480 align:middle line:84% But there was hardly any fun in it. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.800 align:middle line:84% Grandpa so still lying beside them, 00:14:00.800 --> 00:14:03.350 align:middle line:84% and they would have put it on fire 00:14:03.350 --> 00:14:07.430 align:middle line:84% and seen how long it would float before the water took it. 00:14:07.430 --> 00:14:10.250 align:middle line:84% They would have siphoned gasoline from a car 00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:13.910 align:middle line:84% or looked for dry rushes and twigs to set upon it 00:14:13.910 --> 00:14:15.380 align:middle line:90% and then light it up. 00:14:15.380 --> 00:14:18.830 align:middle line:84% They talked of it squatting there beside grandpa 00:14:18.830 --> 00:14:21.920 align:middle line:84% breaking off sawgrass from around their feet 00:14:21.920 --> 00:14:23.810 align:middle line:84% and putting it between their teeth. 00:14:23.810 --> 00:14:27.920 align:middle line:84% He wouldn't float long, and the fire would not consume him. 00:14:27.920 --> 00:14:33.660 align:middle line:84% The water would fume and fret at the box, lap up against it, 00:14:33.660 --> 00:14:35.960 align:middle line:90% and the wood would soak through. 00:14:35.960 --> 00:14:39.440 align:middle line:84% Grandpa would wash right out of the box, 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:42.080 align:middle line:84% and even his corpse would cry out 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:46.640 align:middle line:84% in fear of the water taking him under. 00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:48.440 align:middle line:90% They decided against it. 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.200 align:middle line:84% The nails would not be fast in the wood, 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.200 align:middle line:84% although the wood would swell up from the water. 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.330 align:middle line:84% The wood would move against itself 00:14:56.330 --> 00:15:01.130 align:middle line:84% and the nails would twist free from their holes, and the box 00:15:01.130 --> 00:15:03.230 align:middle line:90% collapse upon the water. 00:15:03.230 --> 00:15:05.780 align:middle line:84% All the fancy bedding that grandpa 00:15:05.780 --> 00:15:08.570 align:middle line:84% had had made special for this occasion 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:10.670 align:middle line:90% would be yanked and torn. 00:15:10.670 --> 00:15:15.650 align:middle line:84% First, by the box coming apart, and then by the currents 00:15:15.650 --> 00:15:18.185 align:middle line:90% fighting it this way and that. 00:15:18.185 --> 00:15:27.910 align:middle line:90% 00:15:27.910 --> 00:15:32.920 align:middle line:84% I've been working from some Walker Evans photographs 00:15:32.920 --> 00:15:39.550 align:middle line:84% for a while now, and the one that's impressed me the most 00:15:39.550 --> 00:15:42.280 align:middle line:90% is Bud Fields and his family. 00:15:42.280 --> 00:15:44.840 align:middle line:84% The one that's part of, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:49.960 align:middle line:84% when Evans and Agee went down South together. 00:15:49.960 --> 00:15:54.370 align:middle line:90% 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.970 align:middle line:84% The animal in the photograph that this poem is from it's 00:15:57.970 --> 00:15:58.580 align:middle line:90% not a horse. 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:00.640 align:middle line:84% In fact, it's a mule, and I can't 00:16:00.640 --> 00:16:03.370 align:middle line:84% remember which of the sharecroppers 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:05.890 align:middle line:90% is sitting on the mule. 00:16:05.890 --> 00:16:09.040 align:middle line:84% Floyd somebody Not the Tingles, not the Fields, 00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:11.800 align:middle line:84% but the other farmers, the other sharecroppers 00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:13.420 align:middle line:90% that they were with. 00:16:13.420 --> 00:16:16.480 align:middle line:84% But it became a horse in this particular poem. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.210 align:middle line:90% 00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:21.670 align:middle line:84% He'd rent the horse, and it's sounding 00:16:21.670 --> 00:16:25.390 align:middle line:84% like it had asthma, and its legs shivery, 00:16:25.390 --> 00:16:28.450 align:middle line:84% and its back dropped so far your feet dragged 00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:30.670 align:middle line:84% on the ground when you sat on it, even 00:16:30.670 --> 00:16:32.140 align:middle line:90% if you was the youngest. 00:16:32.140 --> 00:16:34.690 align:middle line:84% He'd rent it, touching it on its side 00:16:34.690 --> 00:16:38.440 align:middle line:84% all the way down to its tail and back up to its neck. 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.920 align:middle line:84% Picking its feet up, squinting into its face, 00:16:41.920 --> 00:16:43.450 align:middle line:90% prying open its mouth. 00:16:43.450 --> 00:16:44.380 align:middle line:90% Hoarse. 00:16:44.380 --> 00:16:46.510 align:middle line:90% It was, after all, a horse. 00:16:46.510 --> 00:16:48.850 align:middle line:84% And all he needed was what it was 00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:51.490 align:middle line:84% harnessed to the plow for a couple of afternoons. 00:16:51.490 --> 00:16:55.870 align:middle line:84% He had a hand cultivator, but it was hard, slow work. 00:16:55.870 --> 00:16:58.660 align:middle line:84% That horse, I always waited for it 00:16:58.660 --> 00:17:01.900 align:middle line:84% to die the way it shook and wheezed, 00:17:01.900 --> 00:17:04.030 align:middle line:84% and he'd hit it with the harness straps. 00:17:04.030 --> 00:17:06.579 align:middle line:84% And it would pull and rattle at the harness, 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:08.530 align:middle line:84% and he'd have his sleeves rolled up 00:17:08.530 --> 00:17:12.339 align:middle line:84% and be hauling back on the plow pulling against the horse. 00:17:12.339 --> 00:17:16.540 align:middle line:84% And the plow would dig into the dirt and get stuck, 00:17:16.540 --> 00:17:18.099 align:middle line:84% and he'd have the harness wrapped 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:21.819 align:middle line:84% around him and in his hands as well as the plow handles. 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:25.270 align:middle line:84% His feet braced and his legs stiff. 00:17:25.270 --> 00:17:29.260 align:middle line:84% His hat pulled deep on his forehead cussing his luck 00:17:29.260 --> 00:17:31.420 align:middle line:84% for having thought to do it this way 00:17:31.420 --> 00:17:34.870 align:middle line:84% when he had good, strong kids could pull better. 00:17:34.870 --> 00:17:39.280 align:middle line:84% The horse too old and sick to care, and him sweatier. 00:17:39.280 --> 00:17:43.090 align:middle line:84% And finally, so mad, he wasn't mad at all. 00:17:43.090 --> 00:17:46.690 align:middle line:84% His lips tight and disappeared right off his face, 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:49.660 align:middle line:84% and his arms lumpy with his veins all 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:53.140 align:middle line:84% knotted out in his skin, and his shoes on laced 00:17:53.140 --> 00:17:54.430 align:middle line:90% and full of dirt. 00:17:54.430 --> 00:17:57.910 align:middle line:84% Him more buried and turned over than the Earth. 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:01.450 align:middle line:84% Stiff legged and measuring nothing with his eyes 00:18:01.450 --> 00:18:04.390 align:middle line:84% like he had done when he began not looking at where 00:18:04.390 --> 00:18:06.700 align:middle line:90% the sun stood in the sky. 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:10.960 align:middle line:84% And how long it would take to do this much and then that much. 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.760 align:middle line:84% By mid-afternoon, if he was lucky, maybe this part here, 00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:18.820 align:middle line:84% and that would leave over there and back behind that little yew 00:18:18.820 --> 00:18:20.770 align:middle line:90% and the trees to do. 00:18:20.770 --> 00:18:21.790 align:middle line:90% Nothing. 00:18:21.790 --> 00:18:25.750 align:middle line:84% His eyes straight ahead on the horse's backside 00:18:25.750 --> 00:18:28.990 align:middle line:84% blinking the sweat loose sometimes, but mostly, 00:18:28.990 --> 00:18:32.290 align:middle line:84% letting it settle and roll down his eyes. 00:18:32.290 --> 00:18:36.160 align:middle line:84% Not looking anywhere, turning the horse around, 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:40.360 align:middle line:84% pulling on the plow, loosening it, holding onto the animal, 00:18:40.360 --> 00:18:44.770 align:middle line:84% and turning it all around to walk back up again. 00:18:44.770 --> 00:18:48.430 align:middle line:84% Dipping the plow, and pushing it so it was into the ground 00:18:48.430 --> 00:18:53.710 align:middle line:84% and could claw it up and out and him as tired. 00:18:53.710 --> 00:18:56.620 align:middle line:84% By the time she made him quit, as the horse had 00:18:56.620 --> 00:19:00.130 align:middle line:84% been when he had started, giving him water and looking 00:19:00.130 --> 00:19:03.790 align:middle line:84% at him suspicious and cautious of his mood. 00:19:03.790 --> 00:19:07.180 align:middle line:84% And what she could do to make it better, so he wouldn't be mad. 00:19:07.180 --> 00:19:09.490 align:middle line:84% Supper was late when we got home, 00:19:09.490 --> 00:19:14.060 align:middle line:84% and him saying, if that horse died on his land, 00:19:14.060 --> 00:19:16.240 align:middle line:84% the man who owned it had better come 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.870 align:middle line:84% and clear it off and pay him back his money. 00:19:19.870 --> 00:19:23.290 align:middle line:84% And money besides for the time lost looking 00:19:23.290 --> 00:19:25.480 align:middle line:90% at his goddamn dead horse. 00:19:25.480 --> 00:19:29.740 align:middle line:84% Whatever possessed him to think he needed to use it anyway? 00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:32.290 align:middle line:84% He'd say it as he untied the harness straps 00:19:32.290 --> 00:19:35.650 align:middle line:84% from around his back and arms and hands, 00:19:35.650 --> 00:19:38.530 align:middle line:84% looking down on it like he hadn't never seen it before 00:19:38.530 --> 00:19:41.440 align:middle line:84% and didn't know maybe it belonged on trees 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:44.770 align:middle line:84% or should be thrown in the water or used in the house 00:19:44.770 --> 00:19:46.960 align:middle line:84% somehow in the winter near the stove. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:49.030 align:middle line:90% It's so heavy and useless. 00:19:49.030 --> 00:19:55.690 align:middle line:84% He spoke so flat and low with no heat in his voice. 00:19:55.690 --> 00:19:59.230 align:middle line:84% It all burned out of him by the sun, and the work he'd done 00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:03.970 align:middle line:84% and have to do again tomorrow and probably by the looks of it 00:20:03.970 --> 00:20:05.680 align:middle line:90% the next day too. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:09.190 align:middle line:84% And he'd heard there were better ways to live. 00:20:09.190 --> 00:20:12.340 align:middle line:84% Better ways with only looking at the fields 00:20:12.340 --> 00:20:15.970 align:middle line:84% from automobile windows as you drove along beside them 00:20:15.970 --> 00:20:18.520 align:middle line:84% and pointed out the window and wondered 00:20:18.520 --> 00:20:20.920 align:middle line:90% what that hillbilly was doing. 00:20:20.920 --> 00:20:25.840 align:middle line:84% And he was tired of being that hillbilly and tired 00:20:25.840 --> 00:20:29.170 align:middle line:84% of being tied to this useless hide of dog 00:20:29.170 --> 00:20:33.340 align:middle line:84% food all the days of his life and to this small patch 00:20:33.340 --> 00:20:34.390 align:middle line:90% of land. 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:37.480 align:middle line:90% Worthless is what it was. 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:42.910 align:middle line:84% And he drank from the dipper and us crowded together back 00:20:42.910 --> 00:20:45.880 align:middle line:84% where he couldn't reach us with the harness straps 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:47.260 align:middle line:90% if he should try. 00:20:47.260 --> 00:20:52.900 align:middle line:84% Looking at him and at her, knowing she'd handle it. 00:20:52.900 --> 00:20:56.380 align:middle line:84% She'd even out his temper before we took the horse back 00:20:56.380 --> 00:21:00.040 align:middle line:90% and headed for home ourselves. 00:21:00.040 --> 00:21:03.100 align:middle line:84% And as we went back, and it darkening, 00:21:03.100 --> 00:21:06.040 align:middle line:84% his mood toward the horse changed, 00:21:06.040 --> 00:21:08.410 align:middle line:90% and he wasn't so sour toward it. 00:21:08.410 --> 00:21:13.750 align:middle line:84% It did the best it could, old and lame and sick as it was. 00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:18.840 align:middle line:84% The air was cooler, and his body and legs weren't so knotted up, 00:21:18.840 --> 00:21:20.350 align:middle line:90% nor his arms. 00:21:20.350 --> 00:21:22.350 align:middle line:90% His sleeves rolled down. 00:21:22.350 --> 00:21:25.660 align:middle line:90% His hat pushed back on his head. 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:30.210 align:middle line:84% The day didn't hurt so much thinking about it as we walked 00:21:30.210 --> 00:21:32.940 align:middle line:90% in the slow dark toward home. 00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.916 align:middle line:90% 00:21:35.916 --> 00:21:39.388 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:21:39.388 --> 00:21:45.310 align:middle line:90% 00:21:45.310 --> 00:21:48.490 align:middle line:84% If you're familiar with the photograph, 00:21:48.490 --> 00:21:51.277 align:middle line:84% I say it in this particular poem. 00:21:51.277 --> 00:21:52.360 align:middle line:90% Bud Fields and his family. 00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:59.900 align:middle line:90% 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:05.690 align:middle line:84% This woman here, sloppy shouldered, squint eyed. 00:22:05.690 --> 00:22:10.370 align:middle line:84% I don't know her, nor this room she's in. 00:22:10.370 --> 00:22:15.110 align:middle line:84% Those wooden walls and floors all stained up, 00:22:15.110 --> 00:22:18.440 align:middle line:84% all whopper jawed, and needing nails and paint. 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:20.390 align:middle line:90% I don't know her. 00:22:20.390 --> 00:22:24.530 align:middle line:84% The size of her nose or her mouth pulled up. 00:22:24.530 --> 00:22:26.300 align:middle line:90% The sleeping kids she holds. 00:22:26.300 --> 00:22:29.270 align:middle line:84% I couldn't name you her if you asked me, 00:22:29.270 --> 00:22:34.940 align:middle line:84% nor him, nor the rest of them all lined up in hell so still. 00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:36.290 align:middle line:90% Unnatural. 00:22:36.290 --> 00:22:41.510 align:middle line:84% I've seen fish on a string down a country boy's back look more 00:22:41.510 --> 00:22:45.020 align:middle line:84% natural than they look, posed close together, 00:22:45.020 --> 00:22:48.920 align:middle line:84% not scratching, not with the window open and the old one 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.020 align:middle line:90% there looking out. 00:22:51.020 --> 00:22:54.530 align:middle line:84% And his handkerchiefs not knotted tight on his neck 00:22:54.530 --> 00:22:56.810 align:middle line:90% like he usually wears it. 00:22:56.810 --> 00:22:59.630 align:middle line:90% And her with the safety pin. 00:22:59.630 --> 00:23:03.860 align:middle line:84% The young one, getting long boned and moony, 00:23:03.860 --> 00:23:08.090 align:middle line:84% scratching her toes against the wood, I don't know her neither, 00:23:08.090 --> 00:23:10.460 align:middle line:90% nor do I care to. 00:23:10.460 --> 00:23:14.090 align:middle line:84% That suspicious old lady, head cocked, 00:23:14.090 --> 00:23:16.400 align:middle line:90% sideways looking out at me. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:18.470 align:middle line:90% New shoelaces in her shoes. 00:23:18.470 --> 00:23:21.350 align:middle line:84% I wouldn't look out my window to look at her, 00:23:21.350 --> 00:23:25.040 align:middle line:84% nor listen to her talking at the vegetables in her backyard 00:23:25.040 --> 00:23:26.630 align:middle line:90% garden. 00:23:26.630 --> 00:23:29.420 align:middle line:84% None of them is worth the time, and they've all 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:33.740 align:middle line:84% been dead longer years than I've been born and living. 00:23:33.740 --> 00:23:37.460 align:middle line:84% And the road out front don't lead nowhere near their house. 00:23:37.460 --> 00:23:41.180 align:middle line:84% It sitting in the hollow down lower than that stand of trees 00:23:41.180 --> 00:23:43.580 align:middle line:90% out back with the chicken coop. 00:23:43.580 --> 00:23:45.800 align:middle line:84% And that little picture tacked on the wall 00:23:45.800 --> 00:23:48.470 align:middle line:84% back there, where the old man can see it, 00:23:48.470 --> 00:23:51.410 align:middle line:84% but the kids have to stand on the washtub turned over 00:23:51.410 --> 00:23:53.600 align:middle line:90% don't mean a thing to me. 00:23:53.600 --> 00:23:55.490 align:middle line:90% And the shirt over the door. 00:23:55.490 --> 00:23:57.080 align:middle line:90% You can see its collar here. 00:23:57.080 --> 00:23:59.360 align:middle line:84% I've never seen it on any one or any place 00:23:59.360 --> 00:24:00.380 align:middle line:90% other than right there. 00:24:00.380 --> 00:24:02.270 align:middle line:84% It's always been just like that, part 00:24:02.270 --> 00:24:05.990 align:middle line:84% visible at the top of the picture. 00:24:05.990 --> 00:24:07.970 align:middle line:90% But mostly her. 00:24:07.970 --> 00:24:10.250 align:middle line:90% It's mostly her I don't know. 00:24:10.250 --> 00:24:13.070 align:middle line:84% I may be seeing pictures of rooms like this, 00:24:13.070 --> 00:24:19.040 align:middle line:84% and kids sleeping or awake all tilt faced and dreamy eyed 00:24:19.040 --> 00:24:22.850 align:middle line:84% like that one or wanting to frisk by the side of the house 00:24:22.850 --> 00:24:26.120 align:middle line:84% with the dog throwing sticks and giggling 00:24:26.120 --> 00:24:27.830 align:middle line:84% like that little one they're held 00:24:27.830 --> 00:24:29.210 align:middle line:90% in between his father's knees. 00:24:29.210 --> 00:24:32.960 align:middle line:84% I never seen kids like that running in the street 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:35.210 align:middle line:90% or in the alley. 00:24:35.210 --> 00:24:36.560 align:middle line:90% Even that old lady. 00:24:36.560 --> 00:24:40.070 align:middle line:84% Maybe I've seen her too, or someone like her, 00:24:40.070 --> 00:24:41.690 align:middle line:90% peeking around the curtain. 00:24:41.690 --> 00:24:45.690 align:middle line:84% The room behind her dark and never opened. 00:24:45.690 --> 00:24:48.500 align:middle line:90% And him, he's everywhere. 00:24:48.500 --> 00:24:51.540 align:middle line:90% I see him any time of the day. 00:24:51.540 --> 00:24:55.280 align:middle line:90% But her, I've never seen her. 00:24:55.280 --> 00:24:57.950 align:middle line:84% That big hand rolled into a fist. 00:24:57.950 --> 00:25:00.530 align:middle line:84% Those feet bent double under her. 00:25:00.530 --> 00:25:03.950 align:middle line:84% That little edge of slip showing underneath her checkered dress. 00:25:03.950 --> 00:25:08.360 align:middle line:84% No, I've never seen her before, nor do I care to see her now. 00:25:08.360 --> 00:25:10.730 align:middle line:90% Her hair all knotted and black. 00:25:10.730 --> 00:25:15.410 align:middle line:84% Those bug bites showing on her chest were her dress is open. 00:25:15.410 --> 00:25:18.260 align:middle line:84% The dirt on her, and how she's all slumped down 00:25:18.260 --> 00:25:20.000 align:middle line:84% on the edge of the bed looking like she 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:22.700 align:middle line:84% hasn't any sense at all behind her face. 00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:26.060 align:middle line:84% I don't know her, nor do I care to. 00:25:26.060 --> 00:25:29.270 align:middle line:84% She leaves that baby whining on the floor, 00:25:29.270 --> 00:25:32.540 align:middle line:84% while she goes out in the field looking for men. 00:25:32.540 --> 00:25:36.890 align:middle line:84% She leaves it between chairs, so it can't crawl too far. 00:25:36.890 --> 00:25:39.350 align:middle line:90% Every day she leaves it. 00:25:39.350 --> 00:25:43.460 align:middle line:84% She goes farther and farther, sometimes disappears 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:47.210 align:middle line:84% in the weeds, sometimes stands in the shade of the trees 00:25:47.210 --> 00:25:50.660 align:middle line:84% looking out at the men and rubbing her hand on her arm 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:54.300 align:middle line:84% or scratching at the ticks on her legs. 00:25:54.300 --> 00:25:57.930 align:middle line:84% She squints under her hand, and sometimes follows 00:25:57.930 --> 00:26:00.360 align:middle line:90% the road, wagons coming along. 00:26:00.360 --> 00:26:03.120 align:middle line:90% Sometimes cars. 00:26:03.120 --> 00:26:05.490 align:middle line:84% She lies herself down under a tree, 00:26:05.490 --> 00:26:09.110 align:middle line:84% and everything stalls right there. 00:26:09.110 --> 00:26:12.200 align:middle line:84% She's slower and slower getting back. 00:26:12.200 --> 00:26:14.390 align:middle line:84% One day, you'll take this picture out 00:26:14.390 --> 00:26:17.660 align:middle line:84% to show me to have me story it for you, 00:26:17.660 --> 00:26:20.810 align:middle line:84% and there'll be an empty place at the corner of the bed, 00:26:20.810 --> 00:26:24.200 align:middle line:84% and the baby will be all knotted up and asleep on the sheet 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:26.450 align:middle line:90% with no mama anywhere near it. 00:26:26.450 --> 00:26:27.890 align:middle line:90% She'll be gone. 00:26:27.890 --> 00:26:30.170 align:middle line:84% She'll have disappeared down the road so far, 00:26:30.170 --> 00:26:32.750 align:middle line:84% there'll be no time to call her back so you can show me 00:26:32.750 --> 00:26:34.820 align:middle line:90% this picture with her in it. 00:26:34.820 --> 00:26:38.210 align:middle line:84% She'll be in the shade of a tree or in the shade of some man's 00:26:38.210 --> 00:26:40.970 align:middle line:84% arms, and none of them will see it. 00:26:40.970 --> 00:26:43.340 align:middle line:84% They'll all be right there, lined up, 00:26:43.340 --> 00:26:45.170 align:middle line:84% looking straight ahead and never sideways 00:26:45.170 --> 00:26:47.300 align:middle line:84% to see if she's made it back in time. 00:26:47.300 --> 00:26:51.560 align:middle line:84% She'll be gone, and nobody will notice. 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:53.900 align:middle line:84% The bed will be ditched in from having 00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:56.420 align:middle line:84% her weight on and in that spot for so long, 00:26:56.420 --> 00:27:00.800 align:middle line:84% and the baby will be asleep, but nobody will notice. 00:27:00.800 --> 00:27:04.640 align:middle line:84% You show me this picture, and I'll say, look at how funny 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.870 align:middle line:84% that bed looks like someone's been sitting on it. 00:27:08.870 --> 00:27:11.450 align:middle line:84% There won't be any way for me to tell you about her. 00:27:11.450 --> 00:27:15.500 align:middle line:84% She'll be gone, and I could meet her on the street, 00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:19.100 align:middle line:84% and she could hell on me until her throat got dusty. 00:27:19.100 --> 00:27:20.660 align:middle line:90% I wouldn't hear her. 00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:24.020 align:middle line:84% You got to know someone before you can hear them, 00:27:24.020 --> 00:27:28.640 align:middle line:84% before you can answer back, and I don't know her. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:29.570 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:27:29.570 --> 00:27:34.320 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:27:34.320 --> 00:27:56.000 align:middle line:90%