WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.990 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.990 --> 00:00:04.320 align:middle line:84%
So one of the things
with my book--

00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.380 align:middle line:84%
on the cover of my book
is my little brother.

00:00:07.380 --> 00:00:09.930 align:middle line:84%
So this is kind of an
important book for me

00:00:09.930 --> 00:00:11.340 align:middle line:90%
because I dealt with family.

00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:14.520 align:middle line:84%
And that's, I think, a really
difficult thing for people

00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:15.190 align:middle line:90%
to deal with.

00:00:15.190 --> 00:00:18.348 align:middle line:84%
And sometimes, you feel like
you're giving away secrets,

00:00:18.348 --> 00:00:19.890 align:middle line:84%
or you're saying
things you shouldn't

00:00:19.890 --> 00:00:24.595 align:middle line:84%
say airing your dirty
laundry, things like that.

00:00:24.595 --> 00:00:26.220 align:middle line:84%
So I'm going to read
a couple of poems.

00:00:26.220 --> 00:00:30.840 align:middle line:84%
I'm going to read one that takes
place on my reservation you

00:00:30.840 --> 00:00:31.920 align:middle line:90%
know, imaginatively.

00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.530 align:middle line:84%
So I'm taking real life
events and real life emotions,

00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:36.645 align:middle line:84%
and then, I'm imagining
things a little bit.

00:00:36.645 --> 00:00:38.520 align:middle line:84%
And then, I'm going to
read a couple of poems

00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:41.340 align:middle line:90%
about my brother.

00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:44.970 align:middle line:84%
This is called
"Reservation Mary."

00:00:44.970 --> 00:00:48.780 align:middle line:84%
"Mary Lambert was born at the
Indian hospital on the res.

00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:52.020 align:middle line:84%
She never missed a
three-pointer in the first 13

00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:53.370 align:middle line:90%
years of her life.

00:00:53.370 --> 00:00:56.070 align:middle line:84%
She started smoking
pot in seventh grade,

00:00:56.070 --> 00:00:58.380 align:middle line:84%
still never missed
a three-pointer.

00:00:58.380 --> 00:01:01.590 align:middle line:84%
But eventually, missed most
of her freshman classes

00:01:01.590 --> 00:01:04.260 align:middle line:84%
and finally, dropped
out of high school.

00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:07.110 align:middle line:84%
A year or so later, a
smooth-faced Mojave,

00:01:07.110 --> 00:01:10.560 align:middle line:84%
who had a jump shot smoother
than a silver can of commodity

00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:12.810 align:middle line:84%
shortening and
soared for rebounds

00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:15.360 align:middle line:84%
like he was made of
red tail hawk feathers,

00:01:15.360 --> 00:01:17.880 align:middle line:84%
visited her res for
a money tournament.

00:01:17.880 --> 00:01:24.120 align:middle line:84%
His team won the money, and he
won MVI, Most Valuable Indian.

00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.810 align:middle line:84%
Afterward, at the little bar on
the corner of Indian route one,

00:01:27.810 --> 00:01:30.060 align:middle line:84%
where the only people
not allowed to drink

00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:34.030 align:middle line:84%
were dialysis patients, he
told Mary she was his favorite.

00:01:34.030 --> 00:01:37.470 align:middle line:84%
His first string, that he
dropped all those buckets

00:01:37.470 --> 00:01:38.370 align:middle line:90%
for her.

00:01:38.370 --> 00:01:41.250 align:middle line:84%
He spent his entire cut
of the tournament winnings

00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:43.200 align:middle line:90%
on her Wild Turkey and Cokes.

00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.690 align:middle line:84%
Told her he was going to
stay the night with her,

00:01:45.690 --> 00:01:47.820 align:middle line:84%
even though it was
already morning when

00:01:47.820 --> 00:01:49.950 align:middle line:90%
they stumbled from the bar.

00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:53.370 align:middle line:84%
He stayed, and stayed,
and stayed, then left.

00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:56.310 align:middle line:84%
Her heart felt pierced
with spears and arrows,

00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.640 align:middle line:84%
and her belly swelled
round as an August melon.

00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:01.870 align:middle line:90%
That was a lifetime ago.

00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:03.510 align:middle line:90%
Now, she's 17.

00:02:03.510 --> 00:02:07.140 align:middle line:84%
She kept the baby and the weight
and sells famous fry bread

00:02:07.140 --> 00:02:11.370 align:middle line:84%
and breakfast burritos at tribal
entities on paydays, tortillas

00:02:11.370 --> 00:02:13.860 align:middle line:84%
round and chewy as
communion wafers

00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:18.030 align:middle line:84%
embracing Comanches and
government potatoes delivered

00:02:18.030 --> 00:02:20.820 align:middle line:84%
in tin foil from the trunk
of an old brown Buick

00:02:20.820 --> 00:02:23.940 align:middle line:84%
with a cracked windshield and
a pair of baby Jordan shoes

00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:25.740 align:middle line:84%
hanging from the
rearview mirror.

00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:29.190 align:middle line:84%
Her sleeping brown baby tied
tightly into a cradle board

00:02:29.190 --> 00:02:30.900 align:middle line:90%
in the back seat.

00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:33.960 align:middle line:84%
Just the other day at a
party on first beach someone

00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:37.320 align:middle line:84%
asked if she still had that
three-point touch, if she

00:02:37.320 --> 00:02:39.030 align:middle line:90%
wished she still played ball.

00:02:39.030 --> 00:02:41.940 align:middle line:84%
And she answered that she
wished a lot of things.

00:02:41.940 --> 00:02:44.220 align:middle line:84%
But what she wished for
most, at that moment,

00:02:44.220 --> 00:02:46.560 align:middle line:84%
was that she could turn
the entire Colorado

00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:48.840 align:middle line:90%
River into E&J Ripple.

00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:51.120 align:middle line:90%
She went on a beer run instead.

00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.120 align:middle line:84%
And as she made her way
over the bumpy back roads

00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.900 align:middle line:84%
along the river that smooth
faced baby in the back seat

00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:01.160 align:middle line:90%
cried out for something."

00:03:01.160 --> 00:03:02.000 align:middle line:90%