WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:06.266 --> 00:00:11.306 align:middle >> Now, last night was Halloween and the only person that came to our door to ask 00:00:11.306 --> 00:00:16.296 align:middle for trick-or-treat was one little chubby girl that claimed that she was the bride of Dracula. 00:00:17.086 --> 00:00:20.916 align:middle And I just got to thinking that Halloween is not what it was -- 00:00:21.146 --> 00:00:23.236 align:middle Not what it used to be when I was a kid. 00:00:23.836 --> 00:00:27.686 align:middle It seems somehow that they've taken the magic out of it. 00:00:29.056 --> 00:00:33.766 align:middle It seems also too that somehow they've taken the darkness out of it. 00:00:35.096 --> 00:00:38.776 align:middle I can remember long ago you'd be walking alone at night, 00:00:38.776 --> 00:00:44.456 align:middle maybe running hardly any street lights, maybe your neighborhood completely dark 00:00:44.456 --> 00:00:48.676 align:middle or maybe you were, you know, blocks and blocks away from your own house 00:00:49.166 --> 00:00:53.546 align:middle and be stuffing yourself out of a paper bag full of heaven knows what, not even looking, 00:00:53.546 --> 00:00:55.426 align:middle just gobbling it down and running along. 00:00:55.426 --> 00:00:58.076 align:middle But things aren't like that anymore, you know? 00:00:58.566 --> 00:01:03.726 align:middle Here is the kid in his non-flammable costume, in his light-colored materials 00:01:04.316 --> 00:01:07.156 align:middle and when it gets home, he's not allowed to eat it before he gets home. 00:01:07.156 --> 00:01:12.386 align:middle When he gets home, there he is with the parents at the dinner table with strong lights, 00:01:12.806 --> 00:01:15.126 align:middle looking for razor blades and needles. 00:01:16.076 --> 00:01:20.006 align:middle So it made me think back to when I was a kid and we used to play hide 00:01:20.006 --> 00:01:24.116 align:middle and seek out, late at night, hours, hours. 00:01:24.116 --> 00:01:26.176 align:middle Maybe we'd play until one, two in the morning. 00:01:27.316 --> 00:01:31.386 align:middle And it was a unique experience to be out there alone in the dark. 00:01:32.026 --> 00:01:36.886 align:middle And I have one poem that I'd like to start with that's about that kind of thing. 00:01:38.186 --> 00:01:44.216 align:middle If you can think back with me to when you were very small and you'd hide yourself so well 00:01:45.276 --> 00:01:50.536 align:middle that--you wanted to hide yourself so well because you were afraid somebody would find you. 00:01:51.256 --> 00:01:54.206 align:middle Then, after you'd been out there hidden so well long enough, 00:01:54.206 --> 00:01:59.736 align:middle you were afraid that nobody was going to find you and it's kind of a eerie experience. 00:01:59.846 --> 00:02:06.906 align:middle This poem stems from that kind of play at night long ago and it's called Seek. 00:02:08.396 --> 00:02:13.546 align:middle We were all colors living there, Bermuda struggling to green up. 00:02:13.896 --> 00:02:20.036 align:middle Pastel boxes, none of them big, barefoot and brown, my brother would let me leap 00:02:20.096 --> 00:02:26.376 align:middle up on his hand, then flip me over and upright, metal of gleam above his belly, 00:02:26.846 --> 00:02:29.046 align:middle a gain in the yellow porch light. 00:02:29.926 --> 00:02:34.756 align:middle My dad would stand me in his hand to raise me stiff above the roof, 00:02:35.356 --> 00:02:38.146 align:middle a ritual since my knees could lock. 00:02:38.666 --> 00:02:46.306 align:middle But at night, before the fences, hunched in the cool dark you'd hide and hope 00:02:46.306 --> 00:02:48.556 align:middle that no one would find you too soon. 00:02:49.316 --> 00:02:54.656 align:middle Shadows would raise the hairs on your thin arms as you crouched and waited for the anger, 00:02:55.346 --> 00:02:58.386 align:middle for the loss one small house portended. 00:02:59.076 --> 00:03:04.686 align:middle For the time when no large hand could hold you up right, no toss right you. 00:03:05.336 --> 00:03:09.876 align:middle The years when no one could find you in these brass lamps, bright light, 00:03:10.486 --> 00:03:20.166 align:middle looking back for a small, brown body, ready, flat chested, bug-eyed in the dark.