WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.830 align:middle line:90% 00:00:04.830 --> 00:00:07.140 align:middle line:84% And the reader is poet Stephen Orlen 00:00:07.140 --> 00:00:08.760 align:middle line:84% of our own creative writing faculty. 00:00:08.760 --> 00:00:13.290 align:middle line:90% 00:00:13.290 --> 00:00:15.780 align:middle line:84% I hope you can come to the Student Union following 00:00:15.780 --> 00:00:18.000 align:middle line:84% tonight's reading to meet Mr. Michaels. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.310 align:middle line:84% We'll be in the terrace lounge, which 00:00:20.310 --> 00:00:24.510 align:middle line:84% is the most inaccessible spot in the union on the third floor 00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:29.287 align:middle line:84% just as far west as you can go and around the tables 00:00:29.287 --> 00:00:30.245 align:middle line:90% and through the forest. 00:00:30.245 --> 00:00:34.870 align:middle line:90% 00:00:34.870 --> 00:00:40.120 align:middle line:84% We had hoped to publish a creative writing newsletter 00:00:40.120 --> 00:00:46.150 align:middle line:84% in the middle of October, but it will be rather short unless you 00:00:46.150 --> 00:00:48.610 align:middle line:90% give us some material. 00:00:48.610 --> 00:00:54.670 align:middle line:84% Our policy, of course, is to publish only good news, honors, 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:56.980 align:middle line:90% and publications, and awards. 00:00:56.980 --> 00:01:02.709 align:middle line:84% So if you don't want to feel like you're 00:01:02.709 --> 00:01:05.209 align:middle line:84% tooting your own horn, let one of your friends do it for you 00:01:05.209 --> 00:01:08.930 align:middle line:84% and stick a note in our box or give us an anonymous telephone 00:01:08.930 --> 00:01:09.430 align:middle line:90% call. 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:12.310 align:middle line:90% 00:01:12.310 --> 00:01:15.250 align:middle line:84% Your friends do want to know what you're doing, 00:01:15.250 --> 00:01:18.650 align:middle line:84% they do like to hear about nice things that happen to you. 00:01:18.650 --> 00:01:22.340 align:middle line:84% So give us a chance to publicize it. 00:01:22.340 --> 00:01:24.340 align:middle line:84% Leonard Michaels comes to us from the University 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:27.010 align:middle line:90% of California Berkeley. 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:30.250 align:middle line:84% He's published two collections of short stories, "Going 00:01:30.250 --> 00:01:35.140 align:middle line:84% Places" which was a National Book Award nominee 00:01:35.140 --> 00:01:39.010 align:middle line:84% and "I Would Have Saved Them If I Could". 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:42.040 align:middle line:84% His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:45.010 align:middle line:84% Book Review, Partisan Review, New Republic, 00:01:45.010 --> 00:01:47.300 align:middle line:90% and other magazines. 00:01:47.300 --> 00:01:52.420 align:middle line:84% He's co-editor of a book of essays, 00:01:52.420 --> 00:01:55.870 align:middle line:90% "The State of the Language". 00:01:55.870 --> 00:02:00.010 align:middle line:84% He's offered a Guggenheim Fellowship, 00:02:00.010 --> 00:02:01.810 align:middle line:84% an award from the National Foundation 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:05.643 align:middle line:84% on Arts and Humanities and the O. Henry Prize. 00:02:05.643 --> 00:02:07.810 align:middle line:84% Those of you who have had an opportunity to hear him 00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:11.020 align:middle line:84% read for us an informal reading two years 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:14.380 align:middle line:84% ago know that you have a big treat in store, Mr Leonard 00:02:14.380 --> 00:02:15.415 align:middle line:90% Michaels. 00:02:15.415 --> 00:02:29.780 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:02:29.780 --> 00:02:34.730 align:middle line:84% Most of the material that I'll read from is very short 00:02:34.730 --> 00:02:39.320 align:middle line:84% and it'll pretty much represent samples 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:43.760 align:middle line:90% from my work at all stages. 00:02:43.760 --> 00:02:48.770 align:middle line:84% I'll end with a reading from a section of my novel 00:02:48.770 --> 00:02:51.290 align:middle line:90% which has just been completed. 00:02:51.290 --> 00:02:55.770 align:middle line:90% 00:02:55.770 --> 00:02:57.906 align:middle line:84% Well, I've got to just find my glasses. 00:02:57.906 --> 00:03:01.378 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:01.378 --> 00:03:23.629 align:middle line:90% 00:03:23.629 --> 00:03:26.620 align:middle line:84% OK, this is a story, am very sure it's 00:03:26.620 --> 00:03:28.210 align:middle line:90% only a paragraph long. 00:03:28.210 --> 00:03:32.095 align:middle line:90% It appeared in American Review. 00:03:32.095 --> 00:03:33.220 align:middle line:90% It's called "Pretty Women". 00:03:33.220 --> 00:03:36.310 align:middle line:90% 00:03:36.310 --> 00:03:39.160 align:middle line:84% "Kittredge loves pretty women, but he 00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:42.080 align:middle line:90% is blind he can't pursue them. 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.280 align:middle line:84% So I take him to a party and describe a woman in the room. 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.890 align:middle line:90% He whispers, is she pretty? 00:03:47.890 --> 00:03:49.960 align:middle line:90% Tell me about her neck. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.000 align:middle line:84% Eventually, I introduce him to her 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:54.430 align:middle line:84% and they leave the party together. 00:03:54.430 --> 00:03:57.280 align:middle line:90% Kittredge is always successful. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:00.520 align:middle line:84% Women think he listens differently from other men. 00:04:00.520 --> 00:04:04.420 align:middle line:84% In his blinds, they think pleasure is truth. 00:04:04.420 --> 00:04:08.260 align:middle line:84% Blind hands know deep particulars, what 00:04:08.260 --> 00:04:11.350 align:middle line:90% yearns in the knee and neck. 00:04:11.350 --> 00:04:13.960 align:middle line:84% I suppose women also imagine themselves beautifully 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:17.589 align:middle line:84% reciprocal, embracing Kittredge with goodness 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:20.829 align:middle line:90% the way sunlight takes a tree. 00:04:20.829 --> 00:04:24.970 align:middle line:84% He says, talk about her hips, he wants badly 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:27.400 align:middle line:90% to assimilate the pretty ones. 00:04:27.400 --> 00:04:31.180 align:middle line:84% As I talk, his eyes slide with meanings rather 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:35.170 align:middle line:84% like eyes in a normal face, except quicker, something 00:04:35.170 --> 00:04:37.240 align:middle line:90% fearful snapping at them. 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:41.410 align:middle line:84% Kittredge cannot see, cannot know if a woman is pretty. 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:45.580 align:middle line:90% I say, she has thick black hair. 00:04:45.580 --> 00:04:48.670 align:middle line:84% When they leave together I begin to sink. 00:04:48.670 --> 00:04:52.270 align:middle line:84% I envy the magnetic darkness of my friend. 00:04:52.270 --> 00:04:58.780 align:middle line:84% To envy him without desiring his condition is possible." 00:04:58.780 --> 00:05:03.550 align:middle line:84% The next is called "Imagine a Man". 00:05:03.550 --> 00:05:09.100 align:middle line:84% "Kafka imagines a man, he has a hole in the back of his head. 00:05:09.100 --> 00:05:11.950 align:middle line:90% The sun shines into this hole. 00:05:11.950 --> 00:05:14.590 align:middle line:90% Anyone can look into this hole. 00:05:14.590 --> 00:05:17.200 align:middle line:84% The man himself has denied a glimpse of it, 00:05:17.200 --> 00:05:20.170 align:middle line:84% naturally, it is in the back of his head. 00:05:20.170 --> 00:05:23.710 align:middle line:84% But Kafka may well be talking about the man's face, 00:05:23.710 --> 00:05:27.560 align:middle line:84% only other people, never the man himself, see it directly. 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:31.660 align:middle line:84% Others even look into it as if it were a hole. 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:33.850 align:middle line:84% The most public, most promiscuous part 00:05:33.850 --> 00:05:35.740 align:middle line:84% of the man's body is thus essentially 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:39.280 align:middle line:84% invisible to himself, how obvious. 00:05:39.280 --> 00:05:42.490 align:middle line:84% Still, it takes a genius to say that our most visible thing, 00:05:42.490 --> 00:05:45.850 align:middle line:84% what eats, kisses, whistles, moans, is to each of us 00:05:45.850 --> 00:05:48.700 align:middle line:90% more private than our privates. 00:05:48.700 --> 00:05:51.730 align:middle line:84% However, there is a moment when you see it directly as 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:53.620 align:middle line:90% if with the eyes of another. 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:56.170 align:middle line:84% It happens through a freak of circumstances 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:58.840 align:middle line:84% when you are surprised in a mirror. 00:05:58.840 --> 00:06:01.960 align:middle line:84% Your face is then stunningly plain as never 00:06:01.960 --> 00:06:06.370 align:middle line:84% else, not even when photographed or drawn. 00:06:06.370 --> 00:06:09.970 align:middle line:84% In such credit is distorted by the mediating instruments. 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:12.640 align:middle line:84% Worse, it is qualified by time, instantly 00:06:12.640 --> 00:06:14.590 align:middle line:84% and forever when photographed, your face 00:06:14.590 --> 00:06:16.360 align:middle line:90% is younger than you are. 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:20.020 align:middle line:84% But surprised in the mirror, it is given to you actual, living, 00:06:20.020 --> 00:06:20.980 align:middle line:90% now. 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:23.650 align:middle line:84% You fail to know who, let alone what it is. 00:06:23.650 --> 00:06:25.630 align:middle line:84% Then gradually at the intersection 00:06:25.630 --> 00:06:28.270 align:middle line:84% of familiarity and strangeness, it 00:06:28.270 --> 00:06:30.340 align:middle line:84% begins looking at you with the same question 00:06:30.340 --> 00:06:33.100 align:middle line:84% as exists in yourself looking at it, 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:36.460 align:middle line:84% such rare sympathy is difficult to sustain. 00:06:36.460 --> 00:06:38.590 align:middle line:84% You retreat from it and settle again 00:06:38.590 --> 00:06:41.920 align:middle line:84% into quotidian blindness, the blindness of your face 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:43.180 align:middle line:90% to itself. 00:06:43.180 --> 00:06:44.890 align:middle line:84% But now you want to light a cigarette 00:06:44.890 --> 00:06:46.540 align:middle line:90% or fix yourself a drink. 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:49.510 align:middle line:84% You want to make a phone call, to whom? 00:06:49.510 --> 00:06:51.910 align:middle line:84% You don't know, of course you don't. 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:55.120 align:middle line:84% You want to phone your face, the one you've never met, 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.580 align:middle line:90% who you are." 00:06:57.580 --> 00:07:00.970 align:middle line:90% The next is called "You". 00:07:00.970 --> 00:07:03.190 align:middle line:90% Begins with a quote from Kafka. 00:07:03.190 --> 00:07:05.200 align:middle line:84% "Every time I went to close the window, 00:07:05.200 --> 00:07:09.410 align:middle line:84% I saw a grocery store on the other side of the marketplace. 00:07:09.410 --> 00:07:11.740 align:middle line:90% This is Kafka's diaries. 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:14.230 align:middle line:84% I could say why it is marvelous but that 00:07:14.230 --> 00:07:15.880 align:middle line:84% would be like saying to your lover 00:07:15.880 --> 00:07:17.920 align:middle line:84% in a moment of a sacred intimacy, 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.550 align:middle line:90% "Aren't we having fun?" 00:07:21.550 --> 00:07:24.400 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, the room is full of ghouls. 00:07:24.400 --> 00:07:32.260 align:middle line:84% You empty the world, nothing remains but you, you, you, you. 00:07:32.260 --> 00:07:38.810 align:middle line:84% I want to read a slightly longer story. 00:07:38.810 --> 00:07:41.210 align:middle line:84% This is from my first book, it's called "Crossbones." 00:07:41.210 --> 00:07:50.880 align:middle line:90% 00:07:50.880 --> 00:07:53.790 align:middle line:84% At the end of the summer, or the year, 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:55.800 align:middle line:84% or when he could do more with his talent 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:59.220 align:middle line:84% than play guitar in a village strip joints, 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:03.060 align:middle line:84% and after considering his talent for commitment and reluctance, 00:08:03.060 --> 00:08:06.360 align:middle line:84% she found reluctance in her own heart and marriage talk 00:08:06.360 --> 00:08:08.280 align:middle line:90% became desultory. 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:15.330 align:middle line:84% Specifics din, ghostly, lost in bed, and doing wrong things, 00:08:15.330 --> 00:08:17.010 align:middle line:90% working on her. 00:08:17.010 --> 00:08:20.310 align:middle line:84% Discovering epileptic dysrhythmia in her hips. 00:08:20.310 --> 00:08:22.860 align:middle line:84% And he asked about it and she said, he'd hurt her someplace, 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:25.200 align:middle line:84% but not, she insisted, in her head. 00:08:25.200 --> 00:08:27.540 align:middle line:84% And they fought the next morning and the next, 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:30.210 align:middle line:90% as if ravenous for intimacy. 00:08:30.210 --> 00:08:33.059 align:middle line:84% And disgrace themselves, yelling, becoming intimate 00:08:33.059 --> 00:08:33.900 align:middle line:90% with neighbors. 00:08:33.900 --> 00:08:35.490 align:middle line:84% And the superintendent brought them 00:08:35.490 --> 00:08:37.830 align:middle line:84% complaints which would have meant nothing 00:08:37.830 --> 00:08:42.360 align:middle line:84% if they hadn't exhausted all desire for loud broad strokes. 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:44.790 align:middle line:84% But now, conscious of complaints, 00:08:44.790 --> 00:08:49.080 align:middle line:84% they thrust along the vital horizontal with silent stiletto 00:08:49.080 --> 00:08:52.980 align:middle line:84% words and later in the narrowed range of their imaginations 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.890 align:middle line:84% could find no adequate mode of retraction. 00:08:55.890 --> 00:09:01.050 align:middle line:84% So wounds festered, burgeoning lurid weeds, poisoning thought 00:09:01.050 --> 00:09:02.220 align:middle line:90% dialogue. 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:05.080 align:middle line:84% And the simple air of their two room apartment, 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:08.010 align:middle line:84% which had sinned with its view of the Jersey cliffs, 00:09:08.010 --> 00:09:10.920 align:middle line:84% so much larger than now, seemed too 00:09:10.920 --> 00:09:13.770 align:middle line:84% thick to breathe or to see through to one another, 00:09:13.770 --> 00:09:16.920 align:middle line:84% but they didn't say a word about breaking it experimentally. 00:09:16.920 --> 00:09:18.720 align:middle line:84% For whatever their doubts about one 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:22.110 align:middle line:84% another, their doubts about other others, and the city, 00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:24.750 align:middle line:84% themselves adrift in it, among messy one 00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:27.480 align:middle line:84% night stands were too frightening. 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:30.690 align:middle line:84% And at least they had in one another what they had. 00:09:30.690 --> 00:09:34.620 align:middle line:84% Sara had more in bronski, gloomy brown eyes, a guitar 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:38.580 align:middle line:84% in his hands, as mystical and tearing as say Lorca. 00:09:38.580 --> 00:09:41.970 align:middle line:84% Though Mirren's particular hands derived from dancing, 00:09:41.970 --> 00:09:43.710 align:middle line:90% clapping, Hasidim. 00:09:43.710 --> 00:09:46.740 align:middle line:84% And he had Sara Nilsson, Minnesota blonde, 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:50.550 align:middle line:84% long bones attic schizophrenia in the gray infinities 00:09:50.550 --> 00:09:54.450 align:middle line:84% of her eyes, and a turn for lyric poems derived 00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:59.670 align:middle line:84% from piratical saga masters, rare but opposites cleave 00:09:59.670 --> 00:10:02.850 align:middle line:84% in the divisive angularities of Manhattan. 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:05.790 align:middle line:84% And as the dialectics of embattled individuation 00:10:05.790 --> 00:10:09.090 align:middle line:84% became more intense, these two cleaved more tightly. 00:10:09.090 --> 00:10:11.580 align:middle line:84% If Sara out for groceries hadn't returned 00:10:11.580 --> 00:10:15.060 align:middle line:84% in 20 minutes Mirren punched the wall, pulverizing 00:10:15.060 --> 00:10:18.060 align:middle line:84% the music and his knuckles, but punched, 00:10:18.060 --> 00:10:20.100 align:middle line:84% the flung through the door shrieking stop. 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:22.560 align:middle line:84% And he, 20 minutes late from work 00:10:22.560 --> 00:10:26.670 align:middle line:84% found Sara in kerchief coat and gloves, the knotted cloth 00:10:26.670 --> 00:10:30.750 align:middle line:84% beneath her chin a little stone, proclaiming wild indifference 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:33.270 align:middle line:84% to what the nighttime street could hold, 00:10:33.270 --> 00:10:36.360 align:middle line:84% since it held most for him if she were raped and murdered 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:37.320 align:middle line:90% in it. 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:39.690 align:middle line:90% After work, he ran home. 00:10:39.690 --> 00:10:42.720 align:middle line:84% Buying a quart of milk and a pack of cigarettes, 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.270 align:middle line:90% she suffered stomach cramps. 00:10:45.270 --> 00:10:47.910 align:middle line:84% Then a letter came from St. Cloud, Minnesota, 00:10:47.910 --> 00:10:51.240 align:middle line:84% Sara's father was coming to visit them next week. 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:53.820 align:middle line:84% She sewed curtains, squinting down 00:10:53.820 --> 00:10:55.770 align:middle line:84% into the night, plucking thread with 00:10:55.770 --> 00:10:58.050 align:middle line:90% pricked exquisite fingertips. 00:10:58.050 --> 00:11:00.270 align:middle line:90% He painted walls lately punched. 00:11:00.270 --> 00:11:02.910 align:middle line:90% 00:11:02.910 --> 00:11:06.570 align:middle line:84% She bought plants for the window sills, framed and hung three 00:11:06.570 --> 00:11:09.420 align:middle line:84% Japanese prints and painted the whole toilet 00:11:09.420 --> 00:11:11.940 align:middle line:90% opaque flat yellow. 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:15.090 align:middle line:84% On his knees until sunrise, four days in a row, 00:11:15.090 --> 00:11:17.460 align:middle line:84% he sanded and varnished floorboards 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:19.950 align:middle line:84% until the oak bubbled up its blackest 00:11:19.950 --> 00:11:22.980 align:middle line:90% grain, sealant and petrified. 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:26.340 align:middle line:84% And Monday dawned on Sara ironing dresses 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:29.100 align:middle line:84% more than enough to last her father's visit 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:33.360 align:middle line:84% and Mirren already twice shaved, shining all his shoes 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.460 align:middle line:90% urging her to hurry. 00:11:35.460 --> 00:11:37.830 align:middle line:84% In its mute perfection, their apartment 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:42.270 align:middle line:84% now had the expressive air of a well beaten slave, 00:11:42.270 --> 00:11:46.110 align:middle line:90% simultaneously, alive and dead. 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:49.260 align:middle line:84% And reflected like an emanation of their nerves, 00:11:49.260 --> 00:11:52.650 align:middle line:84% their own hectic mainly wordless harmony. 00:11:52.650 --> 00:11:55.800 align:middle line:84% But it wouldn't have mattered if the new curtains, pictures, 00:11:55.800 --> 00:12:00.090 align:middle line:84% and varnished floors yelled reeking spiritual shambles 00:12:00.090 --> 00:12:04.140 align:middle line:84% because Sarah's father wasn't that kind of minister. 00:12:04.140 --> 00:12:07.440 align:middle line:84% His sermons alluded more to Heidegger and Sartre 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:08.640 align:middle line:90% than Christ. 00:12:08.640 --> 00:12:12.600 align:middle line:84% He lifted weights, smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:17.340 align:middle line:84% drove a green Jaguar, and since the death of Sarah's mother 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:19.740 align:middle line:84% a year ago in a state insane asylum, 00:12:19.740 --> 00:12:24.270 align:middle line:84% had seen species of love in all human relations. 00:12:24.270 --> 00:12:28.380 align:middle line:84% And probably at this very moment taking the banked curves 00:12:28.380 --> 00:12:31.680 align:middle line:84% of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, knuckles pale 00:12:31.680 --> 00:12:35.340 align:middle line:84% on the walnut wheel, came man and machine 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:40.140 align:middle line:84% leaning as one toward Jersey and beyond that toward love. 00:12:40.140 --> 00:12:42.240 align:middle line:84% The sense of all these had driven them, 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:45.270 align:middle line:84% wrenched them out of themselves onto their apartment 00:12:45.270 --> 00:12:48.750 align:middle line:84% until nothing more could make it coincident with what 00:12:48.750 --> 00:12:51.030 align:middle line:90% he would discover in it anyway. 00:12:51.030 --> 00:12:54.100 align:middle line:84% And they had now only their own absolute physical being 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:55.110 align:middle line:90% still to work on. 00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:57.480 align:middle line:84% At 9 o'clock when Mirren dashed out 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:01.230 align:middle line:84% to the cleaners for shirts, trousers, and jackets 00:13:01.230 --> 00:13:05.220 align:middle line:84% then dressed in fresh clothing, while Sarah slammed and smeared 00:13:05.220 --> 00:13:09.000 align:middle line:84% the iron down the board as if increasingly sealed 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:11.400 align:middle line:90% in the momentum of brute work. 00:13:11.400 --> 00:13:14.010 align:middle line:84% And then Mirren standing behind her lighting 00:13:14.010 --> 00:13:18.000 align:middle line:84% a cigarette was whispering as if to himself that she must hurry. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:19.830 align:middle line:84% And she was turning from the board 00:13:19.830 --> 00:13:23.850 align:middle line:84% and in the same motion hurled the iron lunging after it 00:13:23.850 --> 00:13:26.730 align:middle line:84% with nails and teeth before it exploded against. 00:13:26.730 --> 00:13:30.030 align:middle line:84% And Mirren instantly hideously understood 00:13:30.030 --> 00:13:33.600 align:middle line:84% that the iron had it struck him had to burn his flesh 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:37.410 align:middle line:84% and break his bones, flew to meet her with a scream 00:13:37.410 --> 00:13:41.010 align:middle line:84% and fists banging her mouth as they locked, 00:13:41.010 --> 00:13:45.150 align:middle line:84% winding, fusing to one convulsive beast reeling 00:13:45.150 --> 00:13:49.800 align:middle line:84% off walls, tables, and chairs with ashtrays, books, lamps, 00:13:49.800 --> 00:13:52.800 align:middle line:84% shooting away with pieces of themselves. 00:13:52.800 --> 00:13:54.900 align:middle line:84% And he punched out three of her teeth 00:13:54.900 --> 00:13:57.630 align:middle line:84% and strangled her until she dissolved in his hands 00:13:57.630 --> 00:14:00.480 align:middle line:84% and she scratched his left eye blind, 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.570 align:middle line:84% but there was hope in corneal transplantation 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:06.270 align:middle line:84% that he would see through it again. 00:14:06.270 --> 00:14:09.660 align:middle line:84% And they were strapped in bandages, twisted and stiff 00:14:09.660 --> 00:14:13.710 align:middle line:84% with pain a week after Sarah's father didn't arrive 00:14:13.710 --> 00:14:16.110 align:middle line:84% and they helped one another walk slowly 00:14:16.110 --> 00:14:18.360 align:middle line:84% up the steps of the municipal building 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:21.058 align:middle line:90% to buy a marriage license. 00:14:21.058 --> 00:14:29.662 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:14:29.662 --> 00:14:31.500 align:middle line:90% Now I'll read some-- 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:33.120 align:middle line:84% again, very, very short ones, these 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.210 align:middle line:84% are from my second collection of stories "I Would 00:14:36.210 --> 00:14:37.890 align:middle line:90% Have Saved Them If I Could". 00:14:37.890 --> 00:14:41.560 align:middle line:84% And it's from a section of the book called Eating out. 00:14:41.560 --> 00:14:46.320 align:middle line:84% The first is called "Basketball Player". 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.020 align:middle line:84% I was the most dedicated basketball player, 00:14:49.020 --> 00:14:50.490 align:middle line:90% I don't say the best. 00:14:50.490 --> 00:14:52.650 align:middle line:84% In my mind, I was terrifically good. 00:14:52.650 --> 00:14:56.040 align:middle line:84% In fact, I was simply the most dedicated basketball player 00:14:56.040 --> 00:14:57.360 align:middle line:90% in the world. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.640 align:middle line:84% I say this because I played continuously 00:14:59.640 --> 00:15:01.890 align:middle line:84% from the time I discovered the meaning of the game 00:15:01.890 --> 00:15:04.800 align:middle line:84% at the age of 10 until my mid-20s. 00:15:04.800 --> 00:15:07.890 align:middle line:84% I played outdoors on cement, indoors on wood. 00:15:07.890 --> 00:15:10.260 align:middle line:84% I played in heat, wind, and rain. 00:15:10.260 --> 00:15:12.300 align:middle line:90% I played in chilly gymnasiums. 00:15:12.300 --> 00:15:14.370 align:middle line:84% Walking home, I played some more. 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:17.010 align:middle line:84% I played during dinner, in my sleep, and movies, 00:15:17.010 --> 00:15:20.130 align:middle line:84% and automobiles, and buses, and at stool. 00:15:20.130 --> 00:15:24.240 align:middle line:84% I played for over a decade taking every conceivable shot 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.770 align:middle line:84% with either hand from every direction. 00:15:26.770 --> 00:15:29.190 align:middle line:90% Masses cheered my performance. 00:15:29.190 --> 00:15:32.160 align:middle line:84% No intermission, no food, no other human concern 00:15:32.160 --> 00:15:34.500 align:middle line:90% you hear they cheered me on. 00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:37.830 align:middle line:84% In living rooms, subways, movies, and schoolyards, 00:15:37.830 --> 00:15:38.730 align:middle line:90% I heard them. 00:15:38.730 --> 00:15:43.440 align:middle line:84% During actual basketball games I also played basketball. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:46.080 align:middle line:90% I played games within games. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:49.320 align:middle line:84% When I lost my virginity I eluded my opponent 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:51.270 align:middle line:90% and sank a running hook. 00:15:51.270 --> 00:15:52.980 align:middle line:90% Masses saw it happen. 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:55.710 align:middle line:84% I lost my virginity and my girl lost hers, 00:15:55.710 --> 00:15:56.700 align:middle line:90% the game had been won. 00:15:56.700 --> 00:16:00.000 align:middle line:84% I pulled up my trousers, she snapped her garter belt, 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.830 align:middle line:84% I took a jump shot from the corner, 00:16:01.830 --> 00:16:04.320 align:middle line:90% and another game was underway. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:07.380 align:middle line:84% I scored in a blind drive from the foul line. 00:16:07.380 --> 00:16:10.050 align:middle line:84% We kissed goodnight, the effect was epileptic, 00:16:10.050 --> 00:16:14.640 align:middle line:84% masses thrashed in their seats, loud holes in their faces. 00:16:14.640 --> 00:16:16.980 align:middle line:84% I acknowledged with an automatic nod 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.680 align:middle line:84% and hurried down the street dribbling. 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:24.630 align:middle line:84% A fall away jumper from the top of the key, it hung in the air. 00:16:24.630 --> 00:16:28.320 align:middle line:84% Then, as if sucked down suddenly it zipped through the hoop. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:33.750 align:middle line:84% Despite the speed and angle of my shots, I never miss. 00:16:33.750 --> 00:16:36.540 align:middle line:90% The next is called "Pleasure". 00:16:36.540 --> 00:16:38.710 align:middle line:84% My mother was taking me to the movies. 00:16:38.710 --> 00:16:39.900 align:middle line:90% We were walking fast. 00:16:39.900 --> 00:16:41.700 align:middle line:84% I didn't know what movie it would be, 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:44.280 align:middle line:84% neither did my mother, she couldn't read. 00:16:44.280 --> 00:16:46.350 align:middle line:90% We were defenseless people. 00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:49.860 align:middle line:84% I was 10 years old, my mother was 5 foot nothing. 00:16:49.860 --> 00:16:54.270 align:middle line:84% We walked with fast little steps, hands in our pockets, 00:16:54.270 --> 00:16:55.920 align:middle line:90% faces down. 00:16:55.920 --> 00:17:01.440 align:middle line:84% The school week had ended, I was five days closer to the M.D. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:06.329 align:middle line:84% My reward for good grades was a movie, Black Brilliant 00:17:06.329 --> 00:17:09.690 align:middle line:84% Pleasure, encouragement to persist. 00:17:09.690 --> 00:17:14.430 align:middle line:84% We walked in a filthy, freezing, blazing wind for half a mile, 00:17:14.430 --> 00:17:17.130 align:middle line:90% the pleasure I'll never forget. 00:17:17.130 --> 00:17:21.000 align:middle line:84% A girl is struck by a speeding car, a beautiful girl who 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:26.010 align:middle line:84% speaks first class English, but she is struck down, blinded, 00:17:26.010 --> 00:17:28.170 align:middle line:90% broken, paralyzed. 00:17:28.170 --> 00:17:31.440 align:middle line:84% The driver of the car is a handsome doctor, 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:35.220 align:middle line:84% my mother whispers, "nah" the Polish word 00:17:35.220 --> 00:17:38.070 align:middle line:84% that stimulates free associational capes 00:17:38.070 --> 00:17:39.390 align:middle line:90% in children. 00:17:39.390 --> 00:17:41.490 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:46.050 align:middle line:84% Mind spring, this to that, the doctor 00:17:46.050 --> 00:17:48.990 align:middle line:84% operates on the girl in a theater of lights, masks, 00:17:48.990 --> 00:17:50.170 align:middle line:90% and knives. 00:17:50.170 --> 00:17:53.010 align:middle line:84% She has no choice in this matter, blind and broken, 00:17:53.010 --> 00:17:54.450 align:middle line:90% paralyzed. 00:17:54.450 --> 00:17:56.670 align:middle line:90% Lucky for her, she recovers. 00:17:56.670 --> 00:18:00.510 align:middle line:84% Her feeling of recovery is thrilling love for the doctor. 00:18:00.510 --> 00:18:03.240 align:middle line:84% He has this feeling too, it spreads from then 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:07.530 align:middle line:84% to everywhere like the hot vibrant glowing moo 00:18:07.530 --> 00:18:10.200 align:middle line:90% of a tremendous cow. 00:18:10.200 --> 00:18:12.180 align:middle line:90% The world is feeling. 00:18:12.180 --> 00:18:16.500 align:middle line:84% Healing is the deadly car, the broken girl and blinding 00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:20.310 align:middle line:84% doctor, the masks, knives, and kisses. 00:18:20.310 --> 00:18:22.170 align:middle line:90% Finally, there is a sunset. 00:18:22.170 --> 00:18:25.410 align:middle line:84% It returns me with smeared and glistening cheeks 00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:27.240 align:middle line:90% to the blazing wind. 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.370 align:middle line:84% I glance at my mother she whispers, "Nah". 00:18:29.370 --> 00:18:34.890 align:middle line:84% Intelligence springs through my mind like a monkey seizing 00:18:34.890 --> 00:18:37.200 align:middle line:90% the bars shaking them. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:41.520 align:middle line:84% We walk fast with little steps, our hands in our pockets. 00:18:41.520 --> 00:18:50.250 align:middle line:84% But my face is lifted to the wind, it shrieks M.D. my call. 00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:54.840 align:middle line:84% The next is called "Something Evil". 00:18:54.840 --> 00:18:59.010 align:middle line:84% I said, Xtene stands outside the door for a long time 00:18:59.010 --> 00:19:02.070 align:middle line:84% before he knocks, did you suspect that? 00:19:02.070 --> 00:19:04.680 align:middle line:84% Did you suspect that he stands there listening to what 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:06.600 align:middle line:90% we say before he knocks? 00:19:06.600 --> 00:19:09.720 align:middle line:84% She said, did you know you're crazy? 00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:11.460 align:middle line:90% I said, I'm not crazy. 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:13.860 align:middle line:84% The expression on his face when I opened the door 00:19:13.860 --> 00:19:17.820 align:middle line:84% is giddy and squirmy as if he'd been doing something evil, 00:19:17.820 --> 00:19:21.120 align:middle line:84% like listening outside our door before he knocked. 00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:23.042 align:middle line:84% She said that Xtene's expression, why 00:19:23.042 --> 00:19:24.000 align:middle line:90% do you invite him here. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:26.700 align:middle line:84% Leave the door open he won't be able to listen to us. 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:29.800 align:middle line:84% You won't make yourself crazy imagining it. 00:19:29.800 --> 00:19:31.050 align:middle line:90% I said, brilliant. 00:19:31.050 --> 00:19:33.780 align:middle line:84% But he isn't due for an hour and I won't sit here 00:19:33.780 --> 00:19:35.130 align:middle line:90% with the door open. 00:19:35.130 --> 00:19:37.230 align:middle line:84% She said I hate to listen to you talk this way, 00:19:37.230 --> 00:19:39.420 align:middle line:84% I won't be involved in your lunatic friendship. 00:19:39.420 --> 00:19:43.080 align:middle line:84% She opened the door, Xtene stood there giddy and squirmy-- 00:19:43.080 --> 00:19:47.040 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:19:47.040 --> 00:19:48.880 align:middle line:90% The next is called "Answers". 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:53.830 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:19:53.830 --> 00:19:56.890 align:middle line:84% I began 200 hours of continuous reading 00:19:56.890 --> 00:19:59.510 align:middle line:84% in the 12 hours that remained before examination. 00:19:59.510 --> 00:20:02.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:20:02.860 --> 00:20:06.040 align:middle line:84% Melvin Bloom, my roommate, flipped the pages 00:20:06.040 --> 00:20:10.240 align:middle line:84% of his textbook in a sweet continuous trance, 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.270 align:middle line:84% reviewing the terms work was his pleasure. 00:20:13.270 --> 00:20:15.130 align:middle line:90% He went to sleep early. 00:20:15.130 --> 00:20:18.310 align:middle line:84% While he slept, I bent into the night reading, 00:20:18.310 --> 00:20:21.760 align:middle line:84% eating Benzedrine, smoking cigarettes. 00:20:21.760 --> 00:20:25.330 align:middle line:84% Shrieking dwarfs charged across my notes. 00:20:25.330 --> 00:20:26.470 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:20:26.470 --> 00:20:30.400 align:middle line:90% Crabs asked me questions. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:33.880 align:middle line:84% Melvin flipped the page, blinked, flipped another. 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.450 align:middle line:84% He effected the same flipping and blinking with no textbook 00:20:37.450 --> 00:20:39.850 align:middle line:90% during examinations. 00:20:39.850 --> 00:20:44.560 align:middle line:84% For every question, answers marched down his optical nerve, 00:20:44.560 --> 00:20:48.040 align:middle line:84% neck, arm, and out his paper where they 00:20:48.040 --> 00:20:51.130 align:middle line:90% stopped in impeccable parade. 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:56.080 align:middle line:84% I'd look at my paper oily, scratched by rat like misery, 00:20:56.080 --> 00:20:58.510 align:middle line:90% and I think of Melvin Bloom. 00:20:58.510 --> 00:21:02.530 align:middle line:84% I would think, Oh God what is going to happen to me. 00:21:02.530 --> 00:21:06.600 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:21:06.600 --> 00:21:08.587 align:middle line:90% The next. 00:21:08.587 --> 00:21:10.583 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:21:10.583 --> 00:21:14.076 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:21:14.076 --> 00:21:16.910 align:middle line:90% The next is called "Eating out". 00:21:16.910 --> 00:21:19.400 align:middle line:84% Four men were at the table next to mine. 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:21.710 align:middle line:84% Their collars were open, their ties loose, 00:21:21.710 --> 00:21:23.720 align:middle line:90% their jackets hung on the wall. 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:26.270 align:middle line:84% One man poured dressing on the salad, 00:21:26.270 --> 00:21:29.060 align:middle line:84% another tossed the leaves, another filled the plates 00:21:29.060 --> 00:21:30.110 align:middle line:90% and served. 00:21:30.110 --> 00:21:34.010 align:middle line:84% One tore bread, another poured wine, another ladled soup. 00:21:34.010 --> 00:21:36.470 align:middle line:84% The table was small and square, the men 00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:39.140 align:middle line:84% were cramped but efficient nonetheless. 00:21:39.140 --> 00:21:42.710 align:middle line:84% Apparently practiced at eating the hair this way, 00:21:42.710 --> 00:21:46.550 align:middle line:84% hunched over food, head striking to suck at spoons, 00:21:46.550 --> 00:21:50.600 align:middle line:84% tear at forks, then pulling back invidious, invincible 00:21:50.600 --> 00:21:52.130 align:middle line:90% mastication. 00:21:52.130 --> 00:21:56.450 align:middle line:84% Their lower faces slid and chopped, they didn't talk once. 00:21:56.450 --> 00:21:59.900 align:middle line:84% All their eyes, like birds on a wire, perched 00:21:59.900 --> 00:22:02.660 align:middle line:84% on a horizontal line above the action, 00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:06.590 align:middle line:84% swallowing muscles flickered, and jaws, and necks. 00:22:06.590 --> 00:22:09.530 align:middle line:84% Had I touched the shoulder and asked for the time, 00:22:09.530 --> 00:22:13.550 align:middle line:84% they would have been snarling a flash of teeth. 00:22:13.550 --> 00:22:15.530 align:middle line:90% Next is called "What's New". 00:22:15.530 --> 00:22:17.900 align:middle line:90% My mother said, so what's new? 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:19.370 align:middle line:90% I said something happened. 00:22:19.370 --> 00:22:22.700 align:middle line:84% She said, I knew it, I had a feeling, I could tell. 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:23.810 align:middle line:90% Why did I ask? 00:22:23.810 --> 00:22:26.180 align:middle line:84% Sure something happened, why couldn't I sit still, 00:22:26.180 --> 00:22:27.260 align:middle line:90% did I have to ask? 00:22:27.260 --> 00:22:29.100 align:middle line:90% I had a feeling. 00:22:29.100 --> 00:22:32.870 align:middle line:90% I knew, I knew what happened? 00:22:32.870 --> 00:22:33.800 align:middle line:90% That's the story. 00:22:33.800 --> 00:22:35.712 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:22:35.712 --> 00:22:41.100 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:22:41.100 --> 00:22:43.520 align:middle line:84% The next is called "The burglar". 00:22:43.520 --> 00:22:47.210 align:middle line:84% I dialed, the burglar answered and said Xtene wasn't home. 00:22:47.210 --> 00:22:49.370 align:middle line:90% I said tell him I called. 00:22:49.370 --> 00:22:50.480 align:middle line:90% The burglar laughed. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:51.350 align:middle line:90% I said what's funny. 00:22:51.350 --> 00:22:52.850 align:middle line:90% The burglar said, coincidence. 00:22:52.850 --> 00:22:55.610 align:middle line:84% When you called I was reading a passage in Xtene's diary 00:22:55.610 --> 00:22:57.070 align:middle line:90% which is about you. 00:22:57.070 --> 00:22:58.730 align:middle line:90% I said tell me what it says. 00:22:58.730 --> 00:23:00.740 align:middle line:84% The burglar snorted, your request 00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:04.970 align:middle line:84% is compromising, just hearing it is compromising. 00:23:04.970 --> 00:23:07.880 align:middle line:84% I said I'm in the apartment below Xtene's, we can easily 00:23:07.880 --> 00:23:10.010 align:middle line:84% meet and have a little talk about my request, 00:23:10.010 --> 00:23:11.420 align:middle line:90% I'll bring something to drink. 00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:12.530 align:middle line:90% Do you like marijuana? 00:23:12.530 --> 00:23:15.380 align:middle line:84% I know where Xtene hides his marijuana. 00:23:15.380 --> 00:23:18.740 align:middle line:84% I have money with me, also a TV set, and a Japanese camera. 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:23.150 align:middle line:84% It's no trouble for me to carry everything up there, one trip. 00:23:23.150 --> 00:23:27.059 align:middle line:84% He said if I came upstairs he would kill me. 00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:32.000 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.760 align:middle line:90% This is called "Right Number". 00:23:34.760 --> 00:23:36.950 align:middle line:84% A girl lived in the apartment below. 00:23:36.950 --> 00:23:38.360 align:middle line:90% We became friends. 00:23:38.360 --> 00:23:41.000 align:middle line:84% I'd go there any time, early or late. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.100 align:middle line:84% She opened the door and didn't turn on the light. 00:23:43.100 --> 00:23:46.340 align:middle line:84% I undressed in darkness, slid in beside her, made a spoon 00:23:46.340 --> 00:23:48.500 align:middle line:90% and she slid into my spoon. 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:50.450 align:middle line:84% She had no work, nothing she had to do, 00:23:50.450 --> 00:23:52.310 align:middle line:84% no one expected her to be any place, 00:23:52.310 --> 00:23:54.110 align:middle line:90% money came to her in the mail. 00:23:54.110 --> 00:23:57.140 align:middle line:84% She had a [AUDIO OUT] lawyers who were in a Botticelli face. 00:23:57.140 --> 00:23:59.630 align:middle line:84% She was tall, pale, blonde, and wavy. 00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:01.910 align:middle line:84% I knocked, she let me in no questions. 00:24:01.910 --> 00:24:05.630 align:middle line:84% We talked fast and moved about from bed to chairs to floor. 00:24:05.630 --> 00:24:08.870 align:middle line:84% Sometimes I'd pinch her thigh, once she knocked the coffee 00:24:08.870 --> 00:24:10.280 align:middle line:90% cup into my lap. 00:24:10.280 --> 00:24:13.110 align:middle line:84% Finally, we had sexual intercourse. 00:24:13.110 --> 00:24:15.440 align:middle line:84% We made a lot of jokes and she was on her back, 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.670 align:middle line:90% I tried to be gentle. 00:24:16.670 --> 00:24:20.570 align:middle line:84% She thrashed in a complimentary way and moaned. 00:24:20.570 --> 00:24:22.910 align:middle line:84% Later she said to guess how many men she'd had, 00:24:22.910 --> 00:24:26.510 align:middle line:84% I said 10, she said 15, how does that sound? 00:24:26.510 --> 00:24:28.940 align:middle line:84% It sounds more depraved than I feel. 00:24:28.940 --> 00:24:32.270 align:middle line:84% After the tuck, she understood the Ottoman Empire. 00:24:32.270 --> 00:24:35.060 align:middle line:84% She said people thought of her as manic depressive, 00:24:35.060 --> 00:24:36.750 align:middle line:90% but it wasn't true. 00:24:36.750 --> 00:24:39.140 align:middle line:84% She had good reasons for what she feels. 00:24:39.140 --> 00:24:41.930 align:middle line:84% Germans are friskier than you'd imagine. 00:24:41.930 --> 00:24:43.790 align:middle line:84% The right number is seven or eight, 00:24:43.790 --> 00:24:46.040 align:middle line:84% it sounds like a lot yet it isn't depraved, 00:24:46.040 --> 00:24:46.880 align:middle line:90% it's believable. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:50.240 align:middle line:84% A girl shouldn't say seven or eight then describe 20. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:55.610 align:middle line:84% What if I said more than 10 less than 20, how does that sound? 00:24:55.610 --> 00:24:57.860 align:middle line:84% Six came in one weekend, they counted. 00:24:57.860 --> 00:24:59.750 align:middle line:90% How old do you think I am? 00:24:59.750 --> 00:25:02.360 align:middle line:90% 00:25:02.360 --> 00:25:03.770 align:middle line:90% 28? 00:25:03.770 --> 00:25:05.270 align:middle line:90% I'm only 22. 00:25:05.270 --> 00:25:08.150 align:middle line:84% With A, it is a way of making something out of nothing, 00:25:08.150 --> 00:25:10.280 align:middle line:84% with B, it as a form of conversation, 00:25:10.280 --> 00:25:13.460 align:middle line:84% with C it as letting him believe something about himself, 00:25:13.460 --> 00:25:16.220 align:middle line:90% with D it's a mistake. 00:25:16.220 --> 00:25:19.550 align:middle line:84% I've had 17, people think I've had 50 or 100. 00:25:19.550 --> 00:25:21.170 align:middle line:90% Do I want 50 or 100? 00:25:21.170 --> 00:25:21.800 align:middle line:90% No. 00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:25.430 align:middle line:90% I want 25, 25 or 30. 00:25:25.430 --> 00:25:27.410 align:middle line:84% Do you remember what my face is like? 00:25:27.410 --> 00:25:29.000 align:middle line:90% I think it looks sluttish. 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.960 align:middle line:84% Indians are the nicest, Blacks don't talk to you afterward. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:34.820 align:middle line:84% I was raped when I was a kid then 00:25:34.820 --> 00:25:37.610 align:middle line:84% I rode my bicycle around and around the block 00:25:37.610 --> 00:25:40.400 align:middle line:84% and talked to myself in a loud voice. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:42.710 align:middle line:84% All my life I've tried to keep things 00:25:42.710 --> 00:25:44.280 align:middle line:90% from getting out of hand. 00:25:44.280 --> 00:25:48.650 align:middle line:84% But I get out of hand, nothing works, nothing works. 00:25:48.650 --> 00:25:52.280 align:middle line:84% I like you very, very much I said, let's try again. 00:25:52.280 --> 00:25:56.420 align:middle line:84% I was gentle, she thrashed in a complimentary way and moaned. 00:25:56.420 --> 00:25:58.460 align:middle line:84% The next day she knocked on my door 00:25:58.460 --> 00:26:01.340 align:middle line:84% wearing a handsome gray wool and high heels, 00:26:01.340 --> 00:26:04.190 align:middle line:84% her hair had been washed and combed into a style. 00:26:04.190 --> 00:26:07.490 align:middle line:84% She looked neat, intelligent, and extremely beautiful. 00:26:07.490 --> 00:26:09.830 align:middle line:84% She said she was going to a job interview 00:26:09.830 --> 00:26:11.510 align:middle line:90% to have something to do. 00:26:11.510 --> 00:26:13.970 align:middle line:84% We hugged for good luck and kissed. 00:26:13.970 --> 00:26:17.930 align:middle line:84% Somehow she was on her back, we had sexual intercourse. 00:26:17.930 --> 00:26:21.890 align:middle line:84% I wasn't gentle, she whipped in the pelvis and screamed murder, 00:26:21.890 --> 00:26:23.600 align:middle line:90% me too. 00:26:23.600 --> 00:26:25.670 align:middle line:90% The next is called "god". 00:26:25.670 --> 00:26:27.560 align:middle line:90% My mother said, what's new? 00:26:27.560 --> 00:26:28.610 align:middle line:90% I said nothing. 00:26:28.610 --> 00:26:30.530 align:middle line:90% She said what, you can tell me. 00:26:30.530 --> 00:26:32.600 align:middle line:90% Tell me what's new. 00:26:32.600 --> 00:26:33.980 align:middle line:90% I said something happened. 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:37.070 align:middle line:84% She said, I had a feeling, I could tell. 00:26:37.070 --> 00:26:38.390 align:middle line:90% What happened? 00:26:38.390 --> 00:26:39.540 align:middle line:90% I said nothing happened. 00:26:39.540 --> 00:26:40.970 align:middle line:90% She said, thank God. 00:26:40.970 --> 00:26:46.620 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:26:46.620 --> 00:26:49.328 align:middle line:90% The next is called "Ma". 00:26:49.328 --> 00:26:50.870 align:middle line:84% I said Ma, do you know what happened? 00:26:50.870 --> 00:26:52.808 align:middle line:90% She said Oh my God. 00:26:52.808 --> 00:26:57.788 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:26:57.788 --> 00:27:08.250 align:middle line:90% 00:27:08.250 --> 00:27:10.739 align:middle line:84% I'm going to read one that's slightly longer and-- 00:27:10.739 --> 00:27:14.870 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:27:14.870 --> 00:27:20.270 align:middle line:84% This is very obliquely political. 00:27:20.270 --> 00:27:24.758 align:middle line:84% In fact, probably not political at all. 00:27:24.758 --> 00:27:28.662 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:27:28.662 --> 00:27:31.130 align:middle line:90% It's art. 00:27:31.130 --> 00:27:35.000 align:middle line:90% It's called "Trotsky's Garden". 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:37.760 align:middle line:84% Trotsky is writing, he will mention 00:27:37.760 --> 00:27:40.120 align:middle line:84% his love of life and his unqualified faith 00:27:40.120 --> 00:27:42.400 align:middle line:90% and dialectical materialism. 00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.950 align:middle line:84% He will mention Natasha, the strip of green 00:27:44.950 --> 00:27:47.770 align:middle line:84% outside his window, his invincible atheism, 00:27:47.770 --> 00:27:50.170 align:middle line:84% and he will contemplate his death. 00:27:50.170 --> 00:27:53.530 align:middle line:84% It is morning, Trotsky sits at his wooden desk, 00:27:53.530 --> 00:27:55.810 align:middle line:84% he looks at letters and the blotter. 00:27:55.810 --> 00:27:59.110 align:middle line:84% The Mexican sun burns in the green outside his window just 00:27:59.110 --> 00:28:00.820 align:middle line:90% opened by Natasha. 00:28:00.820 --> 00:28:05.470 align:middle line:84% Trotsky notices, Natasha and the green slide into his writing. 00:28:05.470 --> 00:28:08.290 align:middle line:84% A man like Trotsky in the head with a pickaxe. 00:28:08.290 --> 00:28:12.130 align:middle line:84% Trotsky sons murdered, are mentioned in the writing. 00:28:12.130 --> 00:28:16.120 align:middle line:84% From Russia to Mexico, friends, secretaries, and bodyguards 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:18.940 align:middle line:84% murdered are mentioned in the writing. 00:28:18.940 --> 00:28:21.370 align:middle line:84% In Berlin where he sent her for psychoanalysis, 00:28:21.370 --> 00:28:23.200 align:middle line:90% his daughter killed herself. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.130 align:middle line:84% The pen does not see so a grovel in individuals. 00:28:27.130 --> 00:28:30.370 align:middle line:84% Trotsky will mention his faith and dialectical materialism, 00:28:30.370 --> 00:28:32.410 align:middle line:90% his faith in meaning. 00:28:32.410 --> 00:28:34.420 align:middle line:84% His mother suffered difficulties in reading, 00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:37.780 align:middle line:84% she crouched over novels and said beta, alpha. 00:28:37.780 --> 00:28:40.930 align:middle line:84% Trotsky says, if I could begin all over 00:28:40.930 --> 00:28:43.060 align:middle line:84% I would try to avoid this or that mistake, 00:28:43.060 --> 00:28:46.600 align:middle line:84% but the main course of my life would remain unchanged. 00:28:46.600 --> 00:28:50.140 align:middle line:84% I shall die a proletarian revolutionist, a Marxist, 00:28:50.140 --> 00:28:52.900 align:middle line:90% a dialectical materialist. 00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:55.390 align:middle line:84% Dialectical materialism in the heat of the day 00:28:55.390 --> 00:28:59.560 align:middle line:84% draws a pickaxe from its raincoat, some say rusty axe, 00:28:59.560 --> 00:29:01.720 align:middle line:90% others say ice peak. 00:29:01.720 --> 00:29:03.310 align:middle line:84% Trotsky himself noticed nothing, it 00:29:03.310 --> 00:29:07.330 align:middle line:84% descended from behind but he will bite the assassins hand. 00:29:07.330 --> 00:29:10.850 align:middle line:84% He's writing that again he would avoid mistakes. 00:29:10.850 --> 00:29:15.190 align:middle line:84% The sun, as it did yesterday and will tomorrow, is shining. 00:29:15.190 --> 00:29:17.230 align:middle line:84% Trotsky loves the green outside his window 00:29:17.230 --> 00:29:19.240 align:middle line:84% and flourishes it in his writing. 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:24.370 align:middle line:84% We shout, OK Trotsky, no time for poems, he cannot hear us. 00:29:24.370 --> 00:29:28.870 align:middle line:84% This poem is a March of corpses, the theme is terrific, 00:29:28.870 --> 00:29:32.290 align:middle line:84% feet are beating in his writing, the sun 00:29:32.290 --> 00:29:34.300 align:middle line:90% is in the green in his writing. 00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:38.170 align:middle line:84% Sedov of the aristocrat lifts her elbow for photographers, 00:29:38.170 --> 00:29:41.350 align:middle line:84% see, a bullet made that ugly scratch, my old man 00:29:41.350 --> 00:29:42.730 align:middle line:90% isn't nobody. 00:29:42.730 --> 00:29:46.690 align:middle line:84% Yesterday, the machine gunned our bedroom, she means. 00:29:46.690 --> 00:29:48.850 align:middle line:84% From revolution to Mexico, Trotsky 00:29:48.850 --> 00:29:50.950 align:middle line:90% is pursued by his inventions. 00:29:50.950 --> 00:29:53.830 align:middle line:84% Trotsky himself says that he put the idea of exile 00:29:53.830 --> 00:29:58.330 align:middle line:84% into the ear of Stalin's spy, hence into the mind of Stalin. 00:29:58.330 --> 00:30:02.140 align:middle line:84% In effect, Trotsky exiled Trotsky and machine 00:30:02.140 --> 00:30:03.670 align:middle line:90% gunned his bedroom. 00:30:03.670 --> 00:30:06.940 align:middle line:84% Now writing that one cannot be reborn until one is dead 00:30:06.940 --> 00:30:10.360 align:middle line:84% and look, it sits beside him with a raincoat and pickaxe. 00:30:10.360 --> 00:30:13.840 align:middle line:84% He makes nervous conversation, alphabetical materialism. 00:30:13.840 --> 00:30:16.180 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, Trotsky is fighting not writing, 00:30:16.180 --> 00:30:17.740 align:middle line:90% blood runs into his eyes. 00:30:17.740 --> 00:30:20.470 align:middle line:84% Nevertheless, he catches the personal fact. 00:30:20.470 --> 00:30:22.960 align:middle line:84% Who said Lenin is morally repulsive 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:26.920 align:middle line:84% and Stalin is a savage who hates ideas and Parvus is 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:30.910 align:middle line:84% a fat, fleshy bulldog head, Trotsky said these things. 00:30:30.910 --> 00:30:33.340 align:middle line:84% Now the assassins hands is in his teeth. 00:30:33.340 --> 00:30:35.860 align:middle line:84% With fury of intimacy, Trotsky bites. 00:30:35.860 --> 00:30:38.890 align:middle line:84% This hand wanted to remind him of something, but what? 00:30:38.890 --> 00:30:42.610 align:middle line:84% On the wall outside the guards carry rifles and binoculars, 00:30:42.610 --> 00:30:45.670 align:middle line:84% they're gossiping in the sun when Trotsky screams. 00:30:45.670 --> 00:30:48.960 align:middle line:84% They see him standing in the window bleeding and blind, 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:50.890 align:middle line:90% a figure of history. 00:30:50.890 --> 00:30:51.520 align:middle line:90% What? 00:30:51.520 --> 00:30:52.510 align:middle line:90% He screams. 00:30:52.510 --> 00:30:55.810 align:middle line:84% The assassin is behind him, bent, sobbing like a child 00:30:55.810 --> 00:30:57.940 align:middle line:90% as he sucks his mutilated hand. 00:30:57.940 --> 00:31:00.340 align:middle line:84% The guards are running on the wall with their rifles 00:31:00.340 --> 00:31:01.420 align:middle line:90% and binoculars. 00:31:01.420 --> 00:31:05.770 align:middle line:84% Freud lights a cigar and contemplates this tableau. 00:31:05.770 --> 00:31:08.800 align:middle line:84% He says Trotsky and I were neighbors in Vienna. 00:31:08.800 --> 00:31:11.980 align:middle line:84% Trotsky admired Freud, he sent him his best daughter. 00:31:11.980 --> 00:31:13.600 align:middle line:84% Now Trotsky shouts in the window, 00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:16.900 align:middle line:84% what does it mean heat in such heat a raincoat. 00:31:16.900 --> 00:31:18.970 align:middle line:84% Trotsky flings toward his wooden desk, 00:31:18.970 --> 00:31:21.790 align:middle line:84% he needs only seconds to write on hot days 00:31:21.790 --> 00:31:24.115 align:middle line:90% in Mexico beware of rain coats. 00:31:24.115 --> 00:31:27.380 align:middle line:90% 00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:30.110 align:middle line:84% The next story I'd like to read is 00:31:30.110 --> 00:31:36.920 align:middle line:84% one that depends very, very much on New York accent or New York 00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:40.220 align:middle line:90% musical phrasing. 00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:42.635 align:middle line:90% It's called "Hello Jack". 00:31:42.635 --> 00:31:45.830 align:middle line:90% 00:31:45.830 --> 00:31:49.430 align:middle line:90% Jack phoned, I said hello Jack. 00:31:49.430 --> 00:31:52.130 align:middle line:84% He said he was going to the hospital. 00:31:52.130 --> 00:31:54.170 align:middle line:84% I said, all right, I'll go with you. 00:31:54.170 --> 00:31:56.390 align:middle line:84% I asked if I should phone his wife, 00:31:56.390 --> 00:31:58.160 align:middle line:90% they weren't living together. 00:31:58.160 --> 00:32:00.020 align:middle line:84% He said he didn't want me to know-- 00:32:00.020 --> 00:32:04.700 align:middle line:84% I'm sorry, he said he didn't want me to know where he was. 00:32:04.700 --> 00:32:07.250 align:middle line:84% He didn't want me to do anything. 00:32:07.250 --> 00:32:09.770 align:middle line:84% I said you're the boss, what's wrong? 00:32:09.770 --> 00:32:11.450 align:middle line:90% I made my voice little. 00:32:11.450 --> 00:32:15.345 align:middle line:84% He yelled, let's not talk about it, I'm in the hospital. 00:32:15.345 --> 00:32:16.970 align:middle line:84% I said you said you have to go to the-- 00:32:16.970 --> 00:32:19.700 align:middle line:84% [AUDIO OUT] little words, chippy, chippy, chippy. 00:32:19.700 --> 00:32:22.730 align:middle line:84% His wife couldn't stand him, I knew plenty. 00:32:22.730 --> 00:32:25.820 align:middle line:84% I said hello Jack and rushed to the hospital. 00:32:25.820 --> 00:32:29.180 align:middle line:84% I had a bad foot, every step was a wolf bite. 00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:32.510 align:middle line:84% But Jack was in the hospital, he was the boss. 00:32:32.510 --> 00:32:36.260 align:middle line:84% Jack phoned so I said hello taxicab, he'd 00:32:36.260 --> 00:32:37.520 align:middle line:90% do the same for me. 00:32:37.520 --> 00:32:40.250 align:middle line:84% We were old friends from Novgorod, 00:32:40.250 --> 00:32:41.840 align:middle line:90% nothing to think about. 00:32:41.840 --> 00:32:46.760 align:middle line:84% Taxi, taxi, in the hospital I noticed everyone was dead, 00:32:46.760 --> 00:32:48.560 align:middle line:90% then a nurse was walking. 00:32:48.560 --> 00:32:51.320 align:middle line:84% I yelled rooms, rooms, rooms, she 00:32:51.320 --> 00:32:55.220 align:middle line:84% said she personally didn't build the hospital. 00:32:55.220 --> 00:32:58.520 align:middle line:90% I said so where's Jack? 00:32:58.520 --> 00:33:00.830 align:middle line:84% She said he was in a room with another man. 00:33:00.830 --> 00:33:04.520 align:middle line:84% In the hall I was running, I saw Jack. 00:33:04.520 --> 00:33:08.750 align:middle line:84% Compared to the other man, Jack was Mr Universe. 00:33:08.750 --> 00:33:11.510 align:middle line:84% What the Mongolians did to one grandmother, 00:33:11.510 --> 00:33:13.470 align:middle line:90% the Germans did to the other. 00:33:13.470 --> 00:33:17.000 align:middle line:84% They made a big blond Chinese Jew. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:21.200 align:middle line:84% His wife hated him, she was from Budapest, say anything. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:23.000 align:middle line:90% What's with that man I said. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:26.630 align:middle line:84% I limped to a chair and took the shoe off my bad foot. 00:33:26.630 --> 00:33:29.480 align:middle line:84% The other man was blankets up to a face 00:33:29.480 --> 00:33:31.640 align:middle line:84% the color of chicken fat, his eyes 00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:33.800 align:middle line:90% were sticking out like swords. 00:33:33.800 --> 00:33:36.590 align:middle line:84% Jack said the man was recovering from pneumonia, 00:33:36.590 --> 00:33:38.780 align:middle line:90% I didn't say anything. 00:33:38.780 --> 00:33:41.960 align:middle line:84% If you ask me, the man finished recovering I said. 00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:43.910 align:middle line:90% I put my shoe on Jack's bed. 00:33:43.910 --> 00:33:46.400 align:middle line:84% Jack said, what's the matter with your foot? 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:47.630 align:middle line:90% Nothing, I said. 00:33:47.630 --> 00:33:50.870 align:middle line:90% The man heard us, he said virus. 00:33:50.870 --> 00:33:52.100 align:middle line:90% My foot was sweating. 00:33:52.100 --> 00:33:55.250 align:middle line:84% Jack said virus is different from plain pneumonia. 00:33:55.250 --> 00:33:58.940 align:middle line:84% I rubbed my foot, poo I said open a window. 00:33:58.940 --> 00:34:01.610 align:middle line:84% Jack said, don't do anything it's not important. 00:34:01.610 --> 00:34:04.460 align:middle line:84% I said how much are they paying you to stay here, stinks 00:34:04.460 --> 00:34:05.870 align:middle line:90% is not important? 00:34:05.870 --> 00:34:09.230 align:middle line:84% I hopped to the window in one shoe and asked the virus, 00:34:09.230 --> 00:34:11.300 align:middle line:90% I'm opening the window. 00:34:11.300 --> 00:34:13.850 align:middle line:84% His eyes didn't move, they looked like a sign, 00:34:13.850 --> 00:34:18.170 align:middle line:84% be quiet, be quiet, two killers shining, pushing. 00:34:18.170 --> 00:34:20.449 align:middle line:90% He said, virus. 00:34:20.449 --> 00:34:24.170 align:middle line:84% I asked them again, I'm opening this window stop stinking. 00:34:24.170 --> 00:34:26.389 align:middle line:90% He said virus. 00:34:26.389 --> 00:34:30.139 align:middle line:84% A little snow came in, you couldn't notice like feathers, 00:34:30.139 --> 00:34:30.949 align:middle line:90% nothing. 00:34:30.949 --> 00:34:32.900 align:middle line:90% It melted on the radiator. 00:34:32.900 --> 00:34:36.380 align:middle line:84% The virus didn't complain, only a maniac would complain. 00:34:36.380 --> 00:34:38.389 align:middle line:84% The virus looked at the ceiling as 00:34:38.389 --> 00:34:40.190 align:middle line:90% if a movie was playing there. 00:34:40.190 --> 00:34:41.300 align:middle line:90% I looked too. 00:34:41.300 --> 00:34:44.030 align:middle line:84% I knew there was no movie on the ceiling, but I looked. 00:34:44.030 --> 00:34:49.670 align:middle line:84% I was right, Jack was happier with the window open. 00:34:49.670 --> 00:34:50.520 align:middle line:90% Why not? 00:34:50.520 --> 00:34:51.980 align:middle line:90% He was a man with a friend. 00:34:51.980 --> 00:34:54.710 align:middle line:84% He began a speech while he was in the hospital. 00:34:54.710 --> 00:34:57.830 align:middle line:84% He couldn't eat, he couldn't sleep, this, that. 00:34:57.830 --> 00:35:00.750 align:middle line:84% He fell down at work in his stomach of pain, 00:35:00.750 --> 00:35:03.170 align:middle line:84% so his union sent him to the hospital. 00:35:03.170 --> 00:35:05.190 align:middle line:90% Talk, talk, talk, I knew plenty. 00:35:05.190 --> 00:35:06.810 align:middle line:84% I said I'm glad you want to talk. 00:35:06.810 --> 00:35:08.030 align:middle line:90% He said is it wrong to talk? 00:35:08.030 --> 00:35:10.280 align:middle line:84% I said, tell me if what you have is serious 00:35:10.280 --> 00:35:13.100 align:middle line:84% and forgive me for laughing, a friend can laugh. 00:35:13.100 --> 00:35:14.630 align:middle line:84% He said you think it's not serious. 00:35:14.630 --> 00:35:18.260 align:middle line:84% I said to you serious is to the world ridiculous, sure 00:35:18.260 --> 00:35:20.930 align:middle line:84% an enemy wouldn't laugh, he doesn't care so we can care. 00:35:20.930 --> 00:35:23.750 align:middle line:84% You have no sense of proportion I rubbed my foot. 00:35:23.750 --> 00:35:25.700 align:middle line:90% The other man said, virus. 00:35:25.700 --> 00:35:27.440 align:middle line:84% Jack said nobody told him not to talk, 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.000 align:middle line:84% I said maybe you would like to sing. 00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:31.520 align:middle line:90% He began to sing yayaya. 00:35:31.520 --> 00:35:35.466 align:middle line:84% The man said virus, me too, yayaya. 00:35:35.466 --> 00:35:38.330 align:middle line:84% All of a sudden the virus pushes his blankets on the floor 00:35:38.330 --> 00:35:40.040 align:middle line:84% and gets out of bed, his gown was 00:35:40.040 --> 00:35:42.500 align:middle line:84% pinched in his behind, his legs with bones, 00:35:42.500 --> 00:35:44.570 align:middle line:90% his face green like a tomato. 00:35:44.570 --> 00:35:47.240 align:middle line:84% I thought he was a tomato not a virus. 00:35:47.240 --> 00:35:49.610 align:middle line:84% He walked out of the room, we stopped singing. 00:35:49.610 --> 00:35:51.320 align:middle line:84% I said he went to the toilet, Jack 00:35:51.320 --> 00:35:53.450 align:middle line:84% said the toilet is behind the door over there, 00:35:53.450 --> 00:35:55.010 align:middle line:90% he didn't go to the toilet. 00:35:55.010 --> 00:35:58.370 align:middle line:84% I said how do you know, maybe he doesn't like that toilet. 00:35:58.370 --> 00:36:00.350 align:middle line:84% Jack said he didn't go to the toilet. 00:36:00.350 --> 00:36:01.920 align:middle line:84% I said he'll be back in a minute, 00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:04.310 align:middle line:84% he went to another toilet because he didn't want 00:36:04.310 --> 00:36:06.740 align:middle line:90% us to hear him make a tinkle. 00:36:06.740 --> 00:36:09.110 align:middle line:84% Jack said he didn't go to any toilet. 00:36:09.110 --> 00:36:11.300 align:middle line:84% I said all right, then he recovered, why should he 00:36:11.300 --> 00:36:14.090 align:middle line:90% pay another penny. 00:36:14.090 --> 00:36:17.540 align:middle line:84% He recovered, stop the clock, a motel is cheaper. 00:36:17.540 --> 00:36:20.480 align:middle line:84% I noticed I had a headache, Jack gave me a face 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:23.090 align:middle line:84% like Genghis Khan, a rock with eye slits. 00:36:23.090 --> 00:36:25.470 align:middle line:84% I could see the tomato was my fault, 00:36:25.470 --> 00:36:27.260 align:middle line:90% I could see it in the rock. 00:36:27.260 --> 00:36:29.810 align:middle line:84% I said I know how [AUDIO OUT] you come in with trouble 00:36:29.810 --> 00:36:31.520 align:middle line:90% and they put you with a virus. 00:36:31.520 --> 00:36:34.670 align:middle line:84% Look at my foot, is that sweat Jack? 00:36:34.670 --> 00:36:36.440 align:middle line:90% It's sweat, believe me. 00:36:36.440 --> 00:36:39.620 align:middle line:84% Jack's wife hated him, a small skinny from night school, 00:36:39.620 --> 00:36:41.030 align:middle line:90% hair and pimples. 00:36:41.030 --> 00:36:42.800 align:middle line:84% She used to read him from Goethe, 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:45.410 align:middle line:84% he couldn't understand the words, so they got married. 00:36:45.410 --> 00:36:47.930 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:36:47.930 --> 00:36:50.030 align:middle line:84% When Jack had a hard on, she would vomit, 00:36:50.030 --> 00:36:52.440 align:middle line:90% he called her the stomach. 00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:55.670 align:middle line:84% He used to say, I'm going home now to the stomach. 00:36:55.670 --> 00:36:59.450 align:middle line:84% I knew plenty, I said what do you say about my foot. 00:36:59.450 --> 00:37:03.290 align:middle line:84% He said he phoned me so I would walk on my rotten foot. 00:37:03.290 --> 00:37:05.750 align:middle line:84% Then he grabbed my shoe and went to the window. 00:37:05.750 --> 00:37:07.910 align:middle line:84% A guy like him makes life meaningless, 00:37:07.910 --> 00:37:11.390 align:middle line:84% I said Jack it was a shoe, you should throw Goethe 00:37:11.390 --> 00:37:13.130 align:middle line:90% out the window. 00:37:13.130 --> 00:37:15.110 align:middle line:84% Maybe you're in the Mongolian mood 00:37:15.110 --> 00:37:17.090 align:middle line:84% to throw my other shoe out the window. 00:37:17.090 --> 00:37:21.200 align:middle line:84% I slapped it on his bed, he threw it out the window. 00:37:21.200 --> 00:37:25.400 align:middle line:84% How about this lamp, I said, out the window. 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:26.990 align:middle line:90% These blankets you want to keep? 00:37:26.990 --> 00:37:29.000 align:middle line:90% Out the window. 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:31.970 align:middle line:84% I said this is too big, don't even look at it, Chinese Jew, 00:37:31.970 --> 00:37:34.760 align:middle line:90% the mattress was no trouble. 00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:36.470 align:middle line:84% A nurse came in when I was pulling 00:37:36.470 --> 00:37:39.770 align:middle line:90% Jack's bed toward the window. 00:37:39.770 --> 00:37:41.990 align:middle line:84% She started hitting and scratching me, 00:37:41.990 --> 00:37:44.600 align:middle line:84% Jack knocked her down with a punch. 00:37:44.600 --> 00:37:48.860 align:middle line:84% We were singing yayaya, when nurses and doctors from all 00:37:48.860 --> 00:37:50.300 align:middle line:90% over the hospital came in. 00:37:50.300 --> 00:37:50.990 align:middle line:90% Why not? 00:37:50.990 --> 00:37:54.170 align:middle line:84% How often do schmuck see a friendship. 00:37:54.170 --> 00:37:58.580 align:middle line:84% I walked home without a shoe, not one shoe. 00:37:58.580 --> 00:38:02.300 align:middle line:84% I begged myself to take a taxi, it's cold, it's snowing, 00:38:02.300 --> 00:38:04.010 align:middle line:90% take a taxi. 00:38:04.010 --> 00:38:06.740 align:middle line:90% But I refused, no taxi. 00:38:06.740 --> 00:38:10.440 align:middle line:84% For proof, I yelled taxi, taxi, it stopped. 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:12.902 align:middle line:90% Drive into a wall, I said. 00:38:12.902 --> 00:38:15.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:38:15.860 --> 00:38:18.830 align:middle line:84% The driver looked at me, I made a jerk face. 00:38:18.830 --> 00:38:22.410 align:middle line:84% He picked up a wrench, I could see he was a maniac. 00:38:22.410 --> 00:38:24.560 align:middle line:84% I was standing without shoes and a maniac 00:38:24.560 --> 00:38:28.430 align:middle line:84% was coming with a wrench, he could hit me on the foot. 00:38:28.430 --> 00:38:34.220 align:middle line:84% When he pushed open the door, another taxi knocked it off. 00:38:34.220 --> 00:38:36.860 align:middle line:84% He was I yelled, but he was hitting the other driver 00:38:36.860 --> 00:38:38.540 align:middle line:90% with the wrench. 00:38:38.540 --> 00:38:41.780 align:middle line:84% In the snow I ran away, you'll get pneumonia I said. 00:38:41.780 --> 00:38:44.720 align:middle line:90% I said I hope it's a virus. 00:38:44.720 --> 00:38:47.750 align:middle line:84% Then I saw phone booth and called Jack's wife. 00:38:47.750 --> 00:38:49.370 align:middle line:90% She said, hello. 00:38:49.370 --> 00:38:52.610 align:middle line:84% I recognized her voice because it was so little and quiet, 00:38:52.610 --> 00:38:54.800 align:middle line:84% that's how she talked, like a one-year-old. 00:38:54.800 --> 00:38:56.540 align:middle line:90% I said, hello, Jack's wife? 00:38:56.540 --> 00:38:58.160 align:middle line:90% She said yeah, Jack's wife. 00:38:58.160 --> 00:38:59.630 align:middle line:90% I said Jack is dead. 00:38:59.630 --> 00:39:00.500 align:middle line:90% She said what? 00:39:00.500 --> 00:39:01.130 align:middle line:90% Who? 00:39:01.130 --> 00:39:04.310 align:middle line:84% I said you are no good, believe me, Eastside hospital. 00:39:04.310 --> 00:39:06.500 align:middle line:84% She was screaming with her little voice what? 00:39:06.500 --> 00:39:07.130 align:middle line:90% Who? 00:39:07.130 --> 00:39:09.590 align:middle line:84% I didn't say anything, I said I'm hanging up, 00:39:09.590 --> 00:39:11.330 align:middle line:84% you think my foot isn't killing me? 00:39:11.330 --> 00:39:12.890 align:middle line:90% What do you care. 00:39:12.890 --> 00:39:14.690 align:middle line:90% She screams wait, wait. 00:39:14.690 --> 00:39:16.100 align:middle line:90% I said Jack's wife? 00:39:16.100 --> 00:39:18.560 align:middle line:90% She screamed, yeah, Jack's wife. 00:39:18.560 --> 00:39:20.630 align:middle line:90% I said Jack's wife from Goethe? 00:39:20.630 --> 00:39:22.430 align:middle line:90% She screamed yeah, Jack's wife. 00:39:22.430 --> 00:39:26.030 align:middle line:84% I said listen, let another person talk sometimes. 00:39:26.030 --> 00:39:27.440 align:middle line:90% She stopped screaming. 00:39:27.440 --> 00:39:28.670 align:middle line:90% Are you listening, I said? 00:39:28.670 --> 00:39:30.335 align:middle line:90% She whispered, yes, yes. 00:39:30.335 --> 00:39:32.600 align:middle line:90% Glunk I hung up. 00:39:32.600 --> 00:39:35.810 align:middle line:84% That night Genghis Khan and the stomach were together, 00:39:35.810 --> 00:39:36.830 align:middle line:90% I didn't say any. 00:39:36.830 --> 00:39:39.260 align:middle line:84% I went home and put my foot in the toilet bowl 00:39:39.260 --> 00:39:41.180 align:middle line:90% and flushed the water. 00:39:41.180 --> 00:39:44.990 align:middle line:84% Who needs a hospital or a small, skinny from Budapest, not 00:39:44.990 --> 00:39:45.830 align:middle line:90% for me. 00:39:45.830 --> 00:39:48.920 align:middle line:84% A friend calls and I said hello Jack. 00:39:48.920 --> 00:39:51.500 align:middle line:84% I also have a toilet bowl, it sucks my foot 00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:55.200 align:middle line:90% and soon it feels better. 00:39:55.200 --> 00:39:58.190 align:middle line:84% At night I knock over the garbage bag under the sink 00:39:58.190 --> 00:40:01.980 align:middle line:84% so in the dark I listen to them eat, the rats are happy, 00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:03.020 align:middle line:90% I'm happy. 00:40:03.020 --> 00:40:07.520 align:middle line:84% I yell sleep, it comes like a taxi cab. 00:40:07.520 --> 00:40:09.370 align:middle line:90% [CLAPPING] 00:40:09.370 --> 00:40:13.000 align:middle line:90%