WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.290 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:07.200 align:middle line:84%
I'd like to read a second poem
also about that most dangerous

00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:10.065 align:middle line:84%
of all subjects-- writing
poems about writing poems.

00:00:10.065 --> 00:00:12.690 align:middle line:90%


00:00:12.690 --> 00:00:17.040 align:middle line:84%
This poem is also about a
writer, not necessarily a poet,

00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:21.330 align:middle line:84%
and it's very different in
tone from the first poem.

00:00:21.330 --> 00:00:24.120 align:middle line:84%
In a sense it's a poem about
not being able to write.

00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:26.640 align:middle line:84%
And the figure in
the poem is not

00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.780 align:middle line:84%
able to write primarily
because his typewriter has

00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:33.360 align:middle line:90%
turned against him.

00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:36.540 align:middle line:84%
The poem also includes
a number of references

00:00:36.540 --> 00:00:39.510 align:middle line:84%
to films, particularly
horror films.

00:00:39.510 --> 00:00:42.630 align:middle line:84%
And I might add only
that all the titles

00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:49.950 align:middle line:84%
and all the little capsule plot
summaries are indeed authentic.

00:00:49.950 --> 00:00:54.450 align:middle line:84%
The poem is called "The
Terrible Dream About Airlines."

00:00:54.450 --> 00:00:56.980 align:middle line:90%


00:00:56.980 --> 00:01:03.340 align:middle line:84%
I suppose it started with the
terrible dream about airlines.

00:01:03.340 --> 00:01:06.160 align:middle line:84%
When I tried to write
about it, the typewriter

00:01:06.160 --> 00:01:12.220 align:middle line:84%
chewed through the paper, edged
away from me across the table,

00:01:12.220 --> 00:01:17.440 align:middle line:84%
and proceeded to issue
terse, impertinent messages.

00:01:17.440 --> 00:01:23.290 align:middle line:84%
It was like the beginning of
Attack Of The Mushroom People

00:01:23.290 --> 00:01:28.990 align:middle line:84%
when a strange, fungus-like
growth spelled disaster.

00:01:28.990 --> 00:01:31.810 align:middle line:90%
Ludicrous, but true.

00:01:31.810 --> 00:01:34.630 align:middle line:84%
And no one paying
attention until they

00:01:34.630 --> 00:01:38.260 align:middle line:84%
have to haul out
the heavy artillery.

00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:42.040 align:middle line:84%
But what could I do if I
couldn't write it down?

00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:47.020 align:middle line:84%
Having all these mouths to
feed, not to mention my own.

00:01:47.020 --> 00:01:52.810 align:middle line:84%
What then would be the
point of my suffering?

00:01:52.810 --> 00:01:57.760 align:middle line:84%
This is like invisible
terror, I said to my wife.

00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.510 align:middle line:84%
When the doctor invents a serum
that will cause invisibility

00:02:01.510 --> 00:02:04.870 align:middle line:90%
and then disappears.

00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:07.810 align:middle line:90%
Ever consider manual labor?

00:02:07.810 --> 00:02:08.920 align:middle line:90%
The typewriter remarked.

00:02:08.920 --> 00:02:12.130 align:middle line:90%


00:02:12.130 --> 00:02:15.370 align:middle line:84%
At night, I could
hear it hammering away

00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:18.220 align:middle line:90%
inside its smart, gray case.

00:02:18.220 --> 00:02:22.000 align:middle line:84%
Even denied paper, it worked
right through the roller

00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:27.610 align:middle line:84%
and kept on while the dream
about the bus and the burning

00:02:27.610 --> 00:02:33.100 align:middle line:84%
dog plagued me and
still plagues me.

00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:35.620 align:middle line:90%
Friends sympathized.

00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:38.260 align:middle line:84%
But when I said,
listen to this one,

00:02:38.260 --> 00:02:43.660 align:middle line:84%
they were all 10 minutes late
for their next appointments.

00:02:43.660 --> 00:02:48.280 align:middle line:84%
My wife lasted a little longer,
slipping colorful biographies

00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:53.320 align:middle line:84%
of Gauguin onto the coffee
table, and travel brochures,

00:02:53.320 --> 00:02:58.870 align:middle line:84%
train schedules, neat cardboard
tubes filled with dimes.

00:02:58.870 --> 00:03:02.350 align:middle line:90%
Finally, she was gone.

00:03:02.350 --> 00:03:06.970 align:middle line:84%
The note said, when you
learn how to take a hint,

00:03:06.970 --> 00:03:08.560 align:middle line:90%
call me at mother's.

00:03:08.560 --> 00:03:11.290 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:03:11.290 --> 00:03:16.700 align:middle line:84%
How could I have explained that
Gauguin was a special case?

00:03:16.700 --> 00:03:19.540 align:middle line:84%
But I never opened
any of the letters.

00:03:19.540 --> 00:03:21.640 align:middle line:90%
I knew what they would say.

00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:26.140 align:middle line:84%
I knew this was
getting near the end.

00:03:26.140 --> 00:03:30.670 align:middle line:84%
The day the movers came,
I smiled pleasantly.

00:03:30.670 --> 00:03:33.850 align:middle line:84%
Don't try anything
funny, they said.

00:03:33.850 --> 00:03:36.820 align:middle line:90%
We've got your number.

00:03:36.820 --> 00:03:39.730 align:middle line:84%
Even they wouldn't
touch the typewriter.

00:03:39.730 --> 00:03:45.970 align:middle line:84%
That heap of silver spools
and keys pulsing on the floor.

00:03:45.970 --> 00:03:50.380 align:middle line:90%
Alone, now, in my empty house.

00:03:50.380 --> 00:03:54.790 align:middle line:84%
I'm beginning to feel like
the surgeon's fiancee in Brain

00:03:54.790 --> 00:03:58.150 align:middle line:90%
That Wouldn't Die.

00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:03.130 align:middle line:84%
My head floating in a jar in
the cellar waiting for a body

00:04:03.130 --> 00:04:04.840 align:middle line:90%
to arrive.

00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:08.170 align:middle line:90%
And discovering too late--

00:04:08.170 --> 00:04:11.020 align:middle line:84%
three murders are all
anyone is entitled

00:04:11.020 --> 00:04:16.839 align:middle line:84%
to before the sheriff pieces
the facts together or the doctor

00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:21.839 align:middle line:84%
attempts one last
desperate gamble.

00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.230 align:middle line:90%
But I'm prepared.

00:04:24.230 --> 00:04:27.920 align:middle line:84%
Even though the
beginning baffles me,

00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.930 align:middle line:84%
even though the
middle doesn't fit,

00:04:30.930 --> 00:04:35.390 align:middle line:90%
I know all the endings by heart.

00:04:35.390 --> 00:04:39.290 align:middle line:90%


00:04:39.290 --> 00:04:40.490 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:40.490 --> 00:04:42.340 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:04:42.340 --> 00:04:46.000 align:middle line:90%