WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.703 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:12.703 --> 00:00:13.203 align:middle line:90% Oh, oh, oh. 00:00:13.203 --> 00:00:19.735 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:00:19.735 --> 00:00:20.860 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much for that. 00:00:20.860 --> 00:00:22.450 align:middle line:90% I forgot about the Q & A. 00:00:22.450 --> 00:00:24.280 align:middle line:84% I think we have time for some questions. 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.000 align:middle line:90% 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:30.030 align:middle line:84% And speak up if you're way out back or into the-- 00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:90% Can I make one-- does anyone-- 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.630 align:middle line:84% did anyone recognized in the Westerns-- 00:00:33.630 --> 00:00:37.020 align:middle line:84% I've never read most of these, those new poems-- 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:38.100 align:middle line:90% that one line-- 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:41.370 align:middle line:84% "The thing about revenge from a flashback that had murdered 00:00:41.370 --> 00:00:44.700 align:middle line:84% is--" Does anyone know the movie that I'm referring to, 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:45.300 align:middle line:90% the Western? 00:00:45.300 --> 00:00:47.190 align:middle line:90% "The Outlaw Josey Wales?" 00:00:47.190 --> 00:00:48.675 align:middle line:90% No, no, but close. 00:00:48.675 --> 00:00:50.998 align:middle line:90% 00:00:50.998 --> 00:00:52.290 align:middle line:90% "Once Upon a Time in the West?" 00:00:52.290 --> 00:00:53.010 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:00:53.010 --> 00:00:54.240 align:middle line:90% Wow! 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:55.500 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:55.500 --> 00:00:56.110 align:middle line:90% Yes! 00:00:56.110 --> 00:00:58.920 align:middle line:84% I was wondering if-- yeah, it's-- 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:00.360 align:middle line:90% I mean, I didn't camouflage it. 00:01:00.360 --> 00:01:03.750 align:middle line:84% I should have camouflaged it inside of a bus, 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:04.830 align:middle line:90% like a vodka bottle. 00:01:04.830 --> 00:01:06.090 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:07.070 align:middle line:90% But good! 00:01:07.070 --> 00:01:10.170 align:middle line:90% That's-- you know your Westerns. 00:01:10.170 --> 00:01:11.620 align:middle line:90% You must also be an insomniac. 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:12.120 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:14.420 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:14.420 --> 00:01:17.190 align:middle line:84% Well, that was with a few films with Henry Fonda as a villain. 00:01:17.190 --> 00:01:18.990 align:middle line:90% Yes, yes. 00:01:18.990 --> 00:01:20.685 align:middle line:84% That was his favorite film, you know? 00:01:20.685 --> 00:01:21.185 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:01:21.185 --> 00:01:23.010 align:middle line:84% I know much too much about Westerns. 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:24.060 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:25.310 align:middle line:90% We have a question right here. 00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:26.220 align:middle line:90% Yes? 00:01:26.220 --> 00:01:29.190 align:middle line:84% How did dyslexia affect your writing? 00:01:29.190 --> 00:01:30.430 align:middle line:90% Where is the person? 00:01:30.430 --> 00:01:30.930 align:middle line:90% Right here. 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:31.470 align:middle line:90% Oh, OK. 00:01:31.470 --> 00:01:32.452 align:middle line:90% I'm here. 00:01:32.452 --> 00:01:34.410 align:middle line:84% Can you talk a little more about your dyslexia, 00:01:34.410 --> 00:01:36.600 align:middle line:84% and how it affected you, and a little bit more 00:01:36.600 --> 00:01:39.660 align:middle line:90% about your writing? 00:01:39.660 --> 00:01:41.220 align:middle line:90% Well, I didn't know. 00:01:41.220 --> 00:01:44.220 align:middle line:84% I had been a writer for a very long time. 00:01:44.220 --> 00:01:46.980 align:middle line:84% I don't know if I mentioned that my son was in second grade 00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:48.480 align:middle line:90% when he was diagnosed with it. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:50.260 align:middle line:84% And that's when I found out that I was. 00:01:50.260 --> 00:01:53.160 align:middle line:84% And every one of his symptoms was mine. 00:01:53.160 --> 00:01:55.110 align:middle line:84% And that explained everything why 00:01:55.110 --> 00:01:57.610 align:middle line:84% I couldn't learn how to read until I was in the fifth grade. 00:01:57.610 --> 00:02:02.740 align:middle line:84% And I spent this time at a table called the dummy table. 00:02:02.740 --> 00:02:06.360 align:middle line:84% So I think that, in a way, probably, 00:02:06.360 --> 00:02:10.350 align:middle line:84% my writing came out of that battle with low self-esteem, 00:02:10.350 --> 00:02:14.160 align:middle line:84% where I need to escape into my imagination. 00:02:14.160 --> 00:02:15.990 align:middle line:90% I first drew and painted. 00:02:15.990 --> 00:02:21.970 align:middle line:84% I think the imagination is a haven, is a refuge for that. 00:02:21.970 --> 00:02:26.700 align:middle line:84% And I think, also, from what I understand, 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:30.840 align:middle line:84% I mean, I'm far from an expert, that one aspect or advantage 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:34.260 align:middle line:84% of dyslexia is that you want to turn experience almost 00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:36.840 align:middle line:90% immediately into a story. 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:38.040 align:middle line:90% That story save you. 00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:41.130 align:middle line:90% You turn it into a story. 00:02:41.130 --> 00:02:42.510 align:middle line:90% And then, you live in the story. 00:02:42.510 --> 00:02:44.430 align:middle line:84% And it helps objectify experience, 00:02:44.430 --> 00:02:46.420 align:middle line:90% so it becomes less painful. 00:02:46.420 --> 00:02:48.330 align:middle line:84% And I think, writing does that too. 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:56.400 align:middle line:90% 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:58.970 align:middle line:90% Any more questions? 00:02:58.970 --> 00:03:00.650 align:middle line:90% Go ahead. 00:03:00.650 --> 00:03:03.510 align:middle line:90% Why do you write in free verse? 00:03:03.510 --> 00:03:04.980 align:middle line:90% I'm sorry, what? 00:03:04.980 --> 00:03:09.020 align:middle line:90% Why do you write in free verse? 00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:13.620 align:middle line:84% Why do you like to write in free verse instead of rhyme schemes? 00:03:13.620 --> 00:03:15.300 align:middle line:90% I always did. 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:18.520 align:middle line:84% I don't know if my dyslexia plays a part in that. 00:03:18.520 --> 00:03:21.450 align:middle line:84% But I think, I'm a child of the 60s. 00:03:21.450 --> 00:03:25.170 align:middle line:84% And I grew up in after the Beats and in the era 00:03:25.170 --> 00:03:28.860 align:middle line:90% of Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti. 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:31.170 align:middle line:90% And that's what poetry was. 00:03:31.170 --> 00:03:35.730 align:middle line:84% And American poetry was really much born out of Whitman. 00:03:35.730 --> 00:03:40.080 align:middle line:84% And so, I wasn't part of the English tradition, 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:43.290 align:middle line:90% so I wrote in free verse. 00:03:43.290 --> 00:03:46.470 align:middle line:84% But I scan, I carefully scan poems. 00:03:46.470 --> 00:03:50.460 align:middle line:90% And there are rhymes in them-- 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:51.810 align:middle line:90% slant rhymes and half rhymes. 00:03:51.810 --> 00:03:55.559 align:middle line:90% 00:03:55.559 --> 00:03:59.180 align:middle line:90% Do you ever read for pleasure? 00:03:59.180 --> 00:03:59.855 align:middle line:90% Good question. 00:03:59.855 --> 00:04:03.380 align:middle line:90% 00:04:03.380 --> 00:04:05.396 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:04:05.396 --> 00:04:08.960 align:middle line:84% My inclination is to say, well, I read the newspaper, 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:10.580 align:middle line:90% and I read the sports page. 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:12.290 align:middle line:90% And there's pleasure in it. 00:04:12.290 --> 00:04:15.920 align:middle line:84% But I always have to overcome a certain reservation 00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:19.110 align:middle line:84% and a certain idea that I'm reading. 00:04:19.110 --> 00:04:23.130 align:middle line:84% And when I talk myself into the fact, 00:04:23.130 --> 00:04:24.950 align:middle line:84% sometimes, in order to write, I have 00:04:24.950 --> 00:04:26.900 align:middle line:84% to play solitaire, and trick my brain 00:04:26.900 --> 00:04:30.440 align:middle line:84% into jumping over a field of anxiety into doing it. 00:04:30.440 --> 00:04:33.380 align:middle line:84% And I think that reading is something like that. 00:04:33.380 --> 00:04:40.320 align:middle line:90% 00:04:40.320 --> 00:04:45.120 align:middle line:84% How did you get [INAUDIBLE] to poetry? 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:45.620 align:middle line:90% You know-- 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:48.648 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:48.648 --> 00:04:50.690 align:middle line:84% Someone is going to have to repeat that question. 00:04:50.690 --> 00:04:52.970 align:middle line:84% I just didn't-- sorry, I didn't hear. 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:55.970 align:middle line:84% How did you get to poetry from whatever you were doing before? 00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:59.260 align:middle line:90% 00:04:59.260 --> 00:05:01.090 align:middle line:90% Could you be more specific? 00:05:01.090 --> 00:05:04.150 align:middle line:84% How did I-- what-- you mean, when I was a kid, 00:05:04.150 --> 00:05:05.410 align:middle line:90% and I first drew? 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:07.490 align:middle line:90% Why did I start writing? 00:05:07.490 --> 00:05:12.700 align:middle line:84% Or when you were telling stories to your grandmother and mother, 00:05:12.700 --> 00:05:15.250 align:middle line:90% and then, you became a poet. 00:05:15.250 --> 00:05:17.290 align:middle line:84% How did that transformation [INAUDIBLE]?? 00:05:17.290 --> 00:05:19.750 align:middle line:84% Well, there were years when I drew. 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:23.840 align:middle line:84% And that was the first way of using my imagination. 00:05:23.840 --> 00:05:29.110 align:middle line:84% And then, well, that's a very good question. 00:05:29.110 --> 00:05:31.990 align:middle line:84% I think around the time my father died when I was 18, 00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:36.520 align:middle line:84% it was all this drama about his bankruptcy and his-- 00:05:36.520 --> 00:05:40.120 align:middle line:84% he was infamous in ways, that I decided 00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:42.190 align:middle line:84% that, if I was going to do something, 00:05:42.190 --> 00:05:43.720 align:middle line:90% it wasn't going to work-- 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:48.790 align:middle line:84% drawing and art weren't specific enough. 00:05:48.790 --> 00:05:49.990 align:middle line:90% They were too figurative. 00:05:49.990 --> 00:05:51.910 align:middle line:90% I wanted to be literal. 00:05:51.910 --> 00:05:55.150 align:middle line:84% I wanted to tell stories that left nothing 00:05:55.150 --> 00:05:56.620 align:middle line:90% to the imagination. 00:05:56.620 --> 00:06:00.880 align:middle line:84% I ended up leaving a lot to the imagination or being more. 00:06:00.880 --> 00:06:04.490 align:middle line:84% But I think, that is the most honest answer to that. 00:06:04.490 --> 00:06:07.030 align:middle line:84% I think the actual transition to writing 00:06:07.030 --> 00:06:11.960 align:middle line:84% was needing to tell more details. 00:06:11.960 --> 00:06:13.000 align:middle line:90% Be less figurative. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:16.340 align:middle line:90% 00:06:16.340 --> 00:06:17.810 align:middle line:84% Were you ever concerned if anyone 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:21.420 align:middle line:84% would like your stories, care about your stories? 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:23.600 align:middle line:90% Did it not matter at all? 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:25.370 align:middle line:90% You mean, like, my poems or-- 00:06:25.370 --> 00:06:27.590 align:middle line:90% Yes, yes. 00:06:27.590 --> 00:06:30.470 align:middle line:84% Does it bother-- do I worry about whether am I-- 00:06:30.470 --> 00:06:34.730 align:middle line:84% whether or not a poem is going to be successful enough 00:06:34.730 --> 00:06:36.873 align:middle line:90% to not write it? 00:06:36.873 --> 00:06:37.790 align:middle line:90% Is that what you mean? 00:06:37.790 --> 00:06:40.050 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:06:40.050 --> 00:06:41.787 align:middle line:84% Were you ever concerned or have you ever 00:06:41.787 --> 00:06:44.120 align:middle line:84% been concerned with whether there's an audience for what 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:45.580 align:middle line:90% you have to say in your poems? 00:06:45.580 --> 00:06:46.467 align:middle line:90% No. 00:06:46.467 --> 00:06:47.321 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:06:47.321 --> 00:06:49.970 align:middle line:84% You know, if you become a professional poet, 00:06:49.970 --> 00:06:52.610 align:middle line:84% the chance of making a livelihood and surviving that 00:06:52.610 --> 00:06:54.260 align:middle line:90% is so far fetched. 00:06:54.260 --> 00:06:58.790 align:middle line:84% And if you live on that level of folly and inspiration 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:01.770 align:middle line:84% or whatever you want to call it, not really. 00:07:01.770 --> 00:07:05.390 align:middle line:84% I guess, the need to do it was so great. 00:07:05.390 --> 00:07:08.420 align:middle line:84% I think all people do what they do 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:12.320 align:middle line:84% because the desire is so profound that the fear takes 00:07:12.320 --> 00:07:14.360 align:middle line:90% a backseat. 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:17.810 align:middle line:84% And if you don't have-- and if your desire is not 00:07:17.810 --> 00:07:19.820 align:middle line:84% as great or greater than the fear, 00:07:19.820 --> 00:07:22.060 align:middle line:84% you don't do something or anything. 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:28.490 align:middle line:90% 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:28.990 align:middle line:90% At the end-- 00:07:28.990 --> 00:07:31.130 align:middle line:84% I didn't expect these questions, and you probably 00:07:31.130 --> 00:07:32.297 align:middle line:90% didn't expect these answers. 00:07:32.297 --> 00:07:33.540 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:07:33.540 --> 00:07:35.990 align:middle line:84% At the end of your poem, "What I like and Don't 00:07:35.990 --> 00:07:39.050 align:middle line:84% Like," you said that, "The thought of no one listening 00:07:39.050 --> 00:07:41.610 align:middle line:84% anymore- I like that least of all." 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:43.160 align:middle line:84% Why would you refer to it as I like 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:46.130 align:middle line:84% that least of all, rather than I don't like it? 00:07:46.130 --> 00:07:47.090 align:middle line:90% I-- 00:07:47.090 --> 00:07:49.640 align:middle line:90% For the sound! 00:07:49.640 --> 00:07:52.370 align:middle line:84% You mean, why I didn't say, I don't-- 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:54.905 align:middle line:84% I could have said, I don't like that most of all, 00:07:54.905 --> 00:07:56.780 align:middle line:84% but it just sounds better to say it that way. 00:07:56.780 --> 00:07:58.590 align:middle line:84% And I think everyone knows what I'm saying. 00:07:58.590 --> 00:07:59.090 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:07:59.090 --> 00:07:59.735 align:middle line:90% I am assuming. 00:07:59.735 --> 00:08:02.850 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:08:02.850 --> 00:08:06.060 align:middle line:84% Do you write on a computer or do you use a pen and paper still? 00:08:06.060 --> 00:08:07.740 align:middle line:84% If you ever saw my handwriting, you 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:10.470 align:middle line:84% would understand why the computer was invented for me. 00:08:10.470 --> 00:08:12.660 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:08:12.660 --> 00:08:15.600 align:middle line:84% Every now and then, when I'm on the bus coming into the city, 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:18.300 align:middle line:84% I have to-- and I have an idea, I write it down. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:19.740 align:middle line:90% But then, I never can read it. 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:21.270 align:middle line:90% I just can't read my-- 00:08:21.270 --> 00:08:24.120 align:middle line:84% even when I tried to print, that's even worse. 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:26.280 align:middle line:90% I have a very bad handwriting. 00:08:26.280 --> 00:08:29.260 align:middle line:84% And I'm sure that comes out of the dyslexia. 00:08:29.260 --> 00:08:33.608 align:middle line:84% So I have to write on a computer, pretty much 00:08:33.608 --> 00:08:34.650 align:middle line:90% Have there been periods-- 00:08:34.650 --> 00:08:38.409 align:middle line:84% You're going-- could you stand up and maybe, speak up? 00:08:38.409 --> 00:08:38.959 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:08:38.959 --> 00:08:42.780 align:middle line:84% Have there been periods when you just had avoided and stopped 00:08:42.780 --> 00:08:46.200 align:middle line:84% writing, and what are some of those situations that-- 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:48.420 align:middle line:84% There were 18 years between books 00:08:48.420 --> 00:08:54.270 align:middle line:90% at one point, 1984 and 2002. 00:08:54.270 --> 00:08:55.450 align:middle line:90% It was a long void. 00:08:55.450 --> 00:08:55.950 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:08:55.950 --> 00:08:57.000 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.070 align:middle line:90% I didn't like what I was doing. 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:04.440 align:middle line:84% I felt that I was writing about failed relationships, mostly, 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:06.750 align:middle line:84% and that the writing about them had something 00:09:06.750 --> 00:09:08.280 align:middle line:90% to do with their happening. 00:09:08.280 --> 00:09:10.320 align:middle line:84% And for whatever reason, the fear 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.210 align:middle line:90% was greater than the desire. 00:09:12.210 --> 00:09:13.110 align:middle line:90% And I stopped. 00:09:13.110 --> 00:09:15.090 align:middle line:90% And I started a school. 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:16.290 align:middle line:90% I did all kinds of things. 00:09:16.290 --> 00:09:18.090 align:middle line:90% I got married. 00:09:18.090 --> 00:09:23.640 align:middle line:84% And then, I started writing out of more happy circumstances. 00:09:23.640 --> 00:09:27.420 align:middle line:90% 00:09:27.420 --> 00:09:29.490 align:middle line:84% Do you have any schedule for your writing 00:09:29.490 --> 00:09:31.290 align:middle line:90% or is it just as spontaneous? 00:09:31.290 --> 00:09:32.310 align:middle line:90% It has to be morning. 00:09:32.310 --> 00:09:34.510 align:middle line:90% I have nothing left by midday. 00:09:34.510 --> 00:09:36.170 align:middle line:84% I mean, it has to be early morning. 00:09:36.170 --> 00:09:36.670 align:middle line:90% I get up. 00:09:36.670 --> 00:09:39.370 align:middle line:90% I'm very early. 00:09:39.370 --> 00:09:41.590 align:middle line:84% Sometimes, I go right from the Westerns [INAUDIBLE] 00:09:41.590 --> 00:09:43.420 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:09:43.420 --> 00:09:43.990 align:middle line:90% No. 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:46.870 align:middle line:84% Actually, I mostly sleep soundly. 00:09:46.870 --> 00:09:48.940 align:middle line:84% And I wake up before I go on off, 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:53.140 align:middle line:84% and walk my dog along the beach, and have ideas. 00:09:53.140 --> 00:09:55.000 align:middle line:90% And then come back and write. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:09:57.808 align:middle line:90% 00:09:57.808 --> 00:10:01.560 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:10:01.560 --> 00:10:03.975 align:middle line:84% Would someone-- you know, it's like Chinese whispers. 00:10:03.975 --> 00:10:04.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.810 align:middle line:84% You could say it to someone and I'm-- 00:10:06.810 --> 00:10:09.210 align:middle line:84% --to address the contemporary world? 00:10:09.210 --> 00:10:10.091 align:middle line:90% I'm sorry. 00:10:10.091 --> 00:10:10.591 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:10.591 --> 00:10:12.996 align:middle line:84% Do you think it's important for a poet 00:10:12.996 --> 00:10:16.850 align:middle line:84% to address the contemporary morals? 00:10:16.850 --> 00:10:17.450 align:middle line:90% Do you think-- 00:10:17.450 --> 00:10:18.590 align:middle line:90% I know, I heard it. 00:10:18.590 --> 00:10:21.090 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:21.090 --> 00:10:24.620 align:middle line:84% You know, these are some of the best questions I've ever had. 00:10:24.620 --> 00:10:25.980 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:30.060 align:middle line:84% I mean, do you all get together and prepare these things? 00:10:30.060 --> 00:10:32.060 align:middle line:84% And one has to be tougher than the next one? 00:10:32.060 --> 00:10:34.640 align:middle line:84% And finally, you reach a point where I'm a pretzel. 00:10:34.640 --> 00:10:37.670 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:10:37.670 --> 00:10:38.510 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:10:38.510 --> 00:10:43.220 align:middle line:84% I mean, Brecht, the great German playwright, 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:47.330 align:middle line:84% said that, especially, in a time of crisis or catastrophe, 00:10:47.330 --> 00:10:53.810 align:middle line:84% to not be political, is for a writer, a poet, 00:10:53.810 --> 00:10:56.270 align:middle line:90% is moral cowardice. 00:10:56.270 --> 00:10:57.200 align:middle line:90% And I agree with that. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:57.700 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:10:57.700 --> 00:11:01.520 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I think it's absolutely necessary to not pretend 00:11:01.520 --> 00:11:04.340 align:middle line:84% that the world you live in doesn't exist, 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:08.030 align:middle line:84% and that its problems aren't above or below 00:11:08.030 --> 00:11:10.730 align:middle line:90% your necessity of writing. 00:11:10.730 --> 00:11:12.900 align:middle line:84% I believe it's absolutely essential. 00:11:12.900 --> 00:11:16.010 align:middle line:90% It's part of your job. 00:11:16.010 --> 00:11:21.050 align:middle line:84% Now that in the '30s, it made for a very, very bad poetry, 00:11:21.050 --> 00:11:23.090 align:middle line:84% and in a lot of parts of the '60s. 00:11:23.090 --> 00:11:25.370 align:middle line:84% Because people were telling other people 00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:27.320 align:middle line:84% or writing about what they already knew. 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:29.780 align:middle line:84% The job of the writer is to try to tell people 00:11:29.780 --> 00:11:31.820 align:middle line:84% something they don't already know, 00:11:31.820 --> 00:11:34.790 align:middle line:84% which means that something they themselves don't already know. 00:11:34.790 --> 00:11:37.790 align:middle line:90% 00:11:37.790 --> 00:11:41.360 align:middle line:84% It's like being on a soapbox, isn't it? 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.180 align:middle line:84% Maybe, it's like, get out the vote. 00:11:44.180 --> 00:11:45.140 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:11:45.140 --> 00:11:46.340 align:middle line:90% Could you stand up, please? 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:47.240 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:48.047 align:middle line:90% This might-- 00:11:48.047 --> 00:11:49.880 align:middle line:84% I could tell this is going to be a good one. 00:11:49.880 --> 00:11:50.790 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:50.790 --> 00:11:51.680 align:middle line:90% Let me brace myself. 00:11:51.680 --> 00:11:53.471 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:11:53.471 --> 00:11:58.090 align:middle line:84% This might be a personal question, but I'm intrigued. 00:11:58.090 --> 00:12:01.180 align:middle line:84% I'm assuming you've written a love letter in your life. 00:12:01.180 --> 00:12:03.384 align:middle line:90% But have-- you have, right? 00:12:03.384 --> 00:12:06.310 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:06.310 --> 00:12:07.840 align:middle line:90% You mean, not to myself? 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:09.289 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:10.740 align:middle line:90% Have you given it to someone? 00:12:10.740 --> 00:12:11.610 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:13.968 align:middle line:90% How was it received? 00:12:13.968 --> 00:12:15.300 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:15.300 --> 00:12:17.550 align:middle line:84% I'm going to take that as a compliment. 00:12:17.550 --> 00:12:18.390 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:18.390 --> 00:12:19.320 align:middle line:90% No, no! 00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:20.040 align:middle line:90% No, no. 00:12:20.040 --> 00:12:24.000 align:middle line:84% I love the question, God, these are the most imaginative 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:24.780 align:middle line:90% questions. 00:12:24.780 --> 00:12:28.350 align:middle line:84% How was it-- you mean, the first one? 00:12:28.350 --> 00:12:30.450 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:30.450 --> 00:12:32.790 align:middle line:84% The first one, when I was about 5-- 00:12:32.790 --> 00:12:34.157 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:34.157 --> 00:12:36.240 align:middle line:84% And I couldn't write and I figured, what the hell? 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.060 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:12:39.060 --> 00:12:42.870 align:middle line:84% There was one that I got, it was returned with silence, 00:12:42.870 --> 00:12:44.550 align:middle line:90% which was horrible. 00:12:44.550 --> 00:12:46.600 align:middle line:90% And I was madly in love. 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:48.540 align:middle line:90% I was 20 years old. 00:12:48.540 --> 00:12:52.065 align:middle line:84% And I ran all the way to San Francisco to get away. 00:12:52.065 --> 00:12:55.230 align:middle line:90% 00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:59.130 align:middle line:84% And another one landed me a wife. 00:12:59.130 --> 00:13:01.830 align:middle line:84% So I don't know if there were many in between. 00:13:01.830 --> 00:13:04.650 align:middle line:90% 00:13:04.650 --> 00:13:06.150 align:middle line:90% May I ask, why did you ask that? 00:13:06.150 --> 00:13:06.860 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:13:06.860 --> 00:13:07.985 align:middle line:90% That's such a-- intriguing. 00:13:07.985 --> 00:13:09.720 align:middle line:84% I have a feeling a reason for asking 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.560 align:middle line:84% is much more interesting than my answer. 00:13:13.560 --> 00:13:16.290 align:middle line:90% That's even more personal. 00:13:16.290 --> 00:13:17.790 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:13:17.790 --> 00:13:19.710 align:middle line:84% Did you-- I'm liking, my fantasy is 00:13:19.710 --> 00:13:21.360 align:middle line:90% you thought I'd write good ones. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:23.160 align:middle line:90% Oh, oh, definitely! 00:13:23.160 --> 00:13:25.370 align:middle line:90% Oh! 00:13:25.370 --> 00:13:29.540 align:middle line:84% Nothing like being on the spot, right? 00:13:29.540 --> 00:13:30.500 align:middle line:90% Are you still asking? 00:13:30.500 --> 00:13:31.340 align:middle line:90% Yes, please! 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:35.440 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:36.250 align:middle line:90% Yes, please. 00:13:36.250 --> 00:13:38.845 align:middle line:90% 00:13:38.845 --> 00:13:41.770 align:middle line:90% I'm so flustered. 00:13:41.770 --> 00:13:45.850 align:middle line:84% Well, I guess, it's always just been a personal fantasy 00:13:45.850 --> 00:13:48.162 align:middle line:84% to receive a love letter from a poet. 00:13:48.162 --> 00:13:59.074 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:13:59.074 --> 00:14:00.480 align:middle line:90% And I-- never mind. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:00.980 align:middle line:90% No. 00:14:00.980 --> 00:14:03.620 align:middle line:90% 00:14:03.620 --> 00:14:05.580 align:middle line:84% Just leave your address in the front row. 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:13.760 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:14:13.760 --> 00:14:15.400 align:middle line:84% I think maybe we should stop there. 00:14:15.400 --> 00:14:17.280 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:14:17.280 --> 00:14:18.330 align:middle line:90% We're just getting going. 00:14:18.330 --> 00:14:20.180 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:14:20.180 --> 00:14:22.000 align:middle line:90%