WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.290 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:04.380 align:middle line:84% So, we are going to do a short, like a 10-minute, Q and A. 00:00:04.380 --> 00:00:07.650 align:middle line:84% And we're going to try a new way of getting 00:00:07.650 --> 00:00:09.230 align:middle line:90% this on the recording. 00:00:09.230 --> 00:00:11.760 align:middle line:84% We're recording this reading for Voca. 00:00:11.760 --> 00:00:14.482 align:middle line:84% So, if you are close to me, I'm going to bring you the mic. 00:00:14.482 --> 00:00:16.440 align:middle line:84% And if you are far from me, I'm going to listen 00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:18.850 align:middle line:84% and I'm going to try and repeat your question. 00:00:18.850 --> 00:00:22.320 align:middle line:84% So if you're far from me, keep it very simple 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:24.750 align:middle line:90% because I'm not that smart. 00:00:24.750 --> 00:00:26.214 align:middle line:90% So, who has a question? 00:00:26.214 --> 00:00:29.190 align:middle line:90% 00:00:29.190 --> 00:00:29.690 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:32.460 align:middle line:90% 00:00:32.460 --> 00:00:35.730 align:middle line:90% Oh, no just signing. 00:00:35.730 --> 00:00:38.988 align:middle line:84% Oh, is there a way that we could get some more light or if-- 00:00:38.988 --> 00:00:43.822 align:middle line:90% 00:00:43.822 --> 00:00:45.280 align:middle line:84% There's a problem with the lighting 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:46.473 align:middle line:90% and seeing the interpreter. 00:00:46.473 --> 00:00:47.890 align:middle line:84% Why don't we let this guy forward? 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:49.300 align:middle line:90% There's a free seat right here. 00:00:49.300 --> 00:00:50.592 align:middle line:90% Since I don't have a question-- 00:00:50.592 --> 00:00:53.780 align:middle line:90% [INTERPOSING VOICES] 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:56.980 align:middle line:90% OK, who has a question? 00:00:56.980 --> 00:00:58.972 align:middle line:90% Any questions? 00:00:58.972 --> 00:00:59.680 align:middle line:90% All the way here. 00:00:59.680 --> 00:01:03.624 align:middle line:90% 00:01:03.624 --> 00:01:07.420 align:middle line:90% I have a question for Joyelle. 00:01:07.420 --> 00:01:10.680 align:middle line:84% I did not expect you to be singing. 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:18.400 align:middle line:84% So, how did you get into singing your poems? 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:21.400 align:middle line:84% I mean, I hope that my poems are rhythmic also, 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:23.330 align:middle line:84% but I never really have sung them. 00:01:23.330 --> 00:01:27.190 align:middle line:84% So did this just like, come up out at home or did someone 00:01:27.190 --> 00:01:29.941 align:middle line:84% suggest it, or how were you inspired to sing? 00:01:29.941 --> 00:01:31.024 align:middle line:90% Do I use this one or this? 00:01:31.024 --> 00:01:31.950 align:middle line:90% No, share that one. 00:01:31.950 --> 00:01:32.650 align:middle line:90% Oh, you got it. 00:01:32.650 --> 00:01:34.353 align:middle line:84% OK, thank you so much for that question. 00:01:34.353 --> 00:01:36.520 align:middle line:84% I mean, I think it's strange if you've gone through, 00:01:36.520 --> 00:01:38.560 align:middle line:84% like, school to learn how to write poems and learn 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:39.490 align:middle line:84% how to read poems, and you're used 00:01:39.490 --> 00:01:41.390 align:middle line:84% to writing your poems for the page. 00:01:41.390 --> 00:01:43.450 align:middle line:84% But as soon as I started performing my poems, 00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:45.095 align:middle line:84% people would tell me, like, [GASP] you 00:01:45.095 --> 00:01:45.970 align:middle line:90% should be an actress. 00:01:45.970 --> 00:01:48.620 align:middle line:90% And I'd be like, but I'm a poet. 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:51.185 align:middle line:84% Is there something wrong with me? 00:01:51.185 --> 00:01:52.810 align:middle line:84% Which is a good way to feel for poetry. 00:01:52.810 --> 00:01:54.435 align:middle line:84% You could tell I was in the right game. 00:01:54.435 --> 00:01:57.580 align:middle line:90% 00:01:57.580 --> 00:01:59.800 align:middle line:90% So I have three books of poetry. 00:01:59.800 --> 00:02:01.900 align:middle line:84% I have some prose stuff too, so this is my third. 00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:04.390 align:middle line:84% And with each book, it's gotten more performative. 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:08.110 align:middle line:84% And then, with this one, I really just let 00:02:08.110 --> 00:02:10.780 align:middle line:84% the rhythms and the sound, like, blow through me. 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:14.000 align:middle line:84% So then it was natural to just let all that sound come through 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:14.780 align:middle line:90% in the reading. 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:17.350 align:middle line:84% And finally, with the glock chorus, these are really songs. 00:02:17.350 --> 00:02:18.070 align:middle line:90% So you're right. 00:02:18.070 --> 00:02:20.170 align:middle line:84% There's been a progression from learning how 00:02:20.170 --> 00:02:22.740 align:middle line:90% to kind of negotiate the page-- 00:02:22.740 --> 00:02:25.240 align:middle line:84% that's how you learn when you first learn poetry in school-- 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:28.540 align:middle line:84% and then realizing that my sound was really steering me 00:02:28.540 --> 00:02:31.120 align:middle line:84% after all, and to let that come more and more to the surface 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:33.220 align:middle line:84% and steer the poem until, now, I just sing them. 00:02:33.220 --> 00:02:34.180 align:middle line:90% But you could see-- 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:36.780 align:middle line:84% actually, "Percussion Grenade," the second thing that I read, 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:38.470 align:middle line:84% was actually kind of like a hinge poem for that. 00:02:38.470 --> 00:02:39.928 align:middle line:84% Because it starts conversationally, 00:02:39.928 --> 00:02:42.610 align:middle line:84% and the voice was just so silly and bombastic that it becomes, 00:02:42.610 --> 00:02:45.760 align:middle line:84% like, a weird occupation of my body with its voice. 00:02:45.760 --> 00:02:47.410 align:middle line:90% So now, that's what I want. 00:02:47.410 --> 00:02:49.990 align:middle line:84% Like, I want there to be a shape and sound that 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:51.477 align:middle line:90% just has to get out. 00:02:51.477 --> 00:02:53.560 align:middle line:84% And sometimes I recognize, oh, that's a character. 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:55.310 align:middle line:84% Like in Glock Chorus, it's all characters. 00:02:55.310 --> 00:02:58.210 align:middle line:84% And sometimes it's just the weird shape of the world, 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:00.040 align:middle line:90% making weird patterns. 00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:05.110 align:middle line:84% We're presenting strange rhymes, or rhymes that I make. 00:03:05.110 --> 00:03:10.900 align:middle line:84% Like, "outrageous microwave us" is probably not a noun. 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:12.322 align:middle line:90% But I went with it, so, yeah. 00:03:12.322 --> 00:03:13.780 align:middle line:84% So it has been a development thing. 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:15.550 align:middle line:84% And also, being sensitive to my own poems, 00:03:15.550 --> 00:03:18.220 align:middle line:84% so letting out the strength of my poems was in sound. 00:03:18.220 --> 00:03:19.930 align:middle line:84% And letting that just ride the poems. 00:03:19.930 --> 00:03:21.820 align:middle line:84% And, in a way, the poems ride me to. 00:03:21.820 --> 00:03:24.640 align:middle line:84% It's become very exciting and, for me, unpredictable too. 00:03:24.640 --> 00:03:27.500 align:middle line:84% Because you never know how a performance is going to go. 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:29.410 align:middle line:84% So now it's gotten scary again, the way 00:03:29.410 --> 00:03:31.310 align:middle line:84% it did when I was in my very first workshop 00:03:31.310 --> 00:03:32.500 align:middle line:90% and I was like, ah. 00:03:32.500 --> 00:03:34.300 align:middle line:90% So that's a good sign, I think. 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:34.885 align:middle line:90% Keep it scary. 00:03:34.885 --> 00:03:39.890 align:middle line:90% 00:03:39.890 --> 00:03:40.520 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:43.110 align:middle line:84% I just wanted to thank both you for reading here. 00:03:43.110 --> 00:03:46.220 align:middle line:84% It's just really exciting, hearing young people, 00:03:46.220 --> 00:03:49.400 align:middle line:84% because sometimes you think the best poets are in their 80s. 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:50.605 align:middle line:90% So thank you for that. 00:03:50.605 --> 00:03:51.480 align:middle line:90% And I had a comment-- 00:03:51.480 --> 00:03:53.581 align:middle line:90% I'm in my 80s. 00:03:53.581 --> 00:03:55.190 align:middle line:90% Zach's had a lot of work done. 00:03:55.190 --> 00:03:58.160 align:middle line:84% You've a very young old man, yes. 00:03:58.160 --> 00:04:01.040 align:middle line:84% So I had a comment for Joyelle, and I 00:04:01.040 --> 00:04:03.620 align:middle line:90% had a question for Zachary. 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:07.640 align:middle line:84% And my comment for Joyelle is I wanted to thank you 00:04:07.640 --> 00:04:09.710 align:middle line:90% for a phrase you gave me. 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:12.440 align:middle line:90% That was the chopping list. 00:04:12.440 --> 00:04:15.860 align:middle line:84% Because I spent some time in my childhood in Saudi Arabia, 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:19.850 align:middle line:84% and there, they make shopping lists and chopping lists. 00:04:19.850 --> 00:04:23.060 align:middle line:84% So thank you for that connection. 00:04:23.060 --> 00:04:27.560 align:middle line:84% And I had a question for Zachary. 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:31.670 align:middle line:84% Listening to you read, it sounds like probably when you started 00:04:31.670 --> 00:04:33.830 align:middle line:90% writing poetry, you probably-- 00:04:33.830 --> 00:04:36.860 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:04:36.860 --> 00:04:40.100 align:middle line:84% I could be transferring here, but you probably really hated 00:04:40.100 --> 00:04:42.610 align:middle line:84% your early stuff and had a lot of trouble with it 00:04:42.610 --> 00:04:46.950 align:middle line:84% and had to work really hard to get past that. 00:04:46.950 --> 00:04:49.300 align:middle line:90% Is that the question? 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.050 align:middle line:84% I mean, your stuff is wonderful right now. 00:04:51.050 --> 00:04:54.638 align:middle line:84% But I'm just saying it probably was really hard work-- 00:04:54.638 --> 00:04:55.180 align:middle line:90% You hated it. 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:57.470 align:middle line:90% --before you got to that point. 00:04:57.470 --> 00:05:00.860 align:middle line:84% Actually, the very first poem I wrote, I was 20 years old. 00:05:00.860 --> 00:05:04.370 align:middle line:90% And it was about a pig. 00:05:04.370 --> 00:05:05.900 align:middle line:90% It was for a poetry class. 00:05:05.900 --> 00:05:09.890 align:middle line:84% And I couldn't have named more than one poet at that time. 00:05:09.890 --> 00:05:14.060 align:middle line:84% I don't know who that poet would be now. 00:05:14.060 --> 00:05:16.720 align:middle line:84% But that poem, I sent to The New Yorker. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.467 align:middle line:90% 00:05:20.467 --> 00:05:21.800 align:middle line:90% I thought it was the best thing. 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:25.370 align:middle line:84% I just thought surely they would want it, at the time. 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:27.110 align:middle line:90% And I sent them one poem. 00:05:27.110 --> 00:05:30.210 align:middle line:84% But my teacher said it was really good. 00:05:30.210 --> 00:05:33.320 align:middle line:84% I haven't sent to The New Yorker since then. 00:05:33.320 --> 00:05:37.130 align:middle line:84% And I haven't heard back from them about that poem. 00:05:37.130 --> 00:05:42.200 align:middle line:84% So that's entirely false, actually. 00:05:42.200 --> 00:05:48.260 align:middle line:84% But shortly after that, yeah, I started to, I feel like, 00:05:48.260 --> 00:05:51.590 align:middle line:84% maybe get confident enough at poetry 00:05:51.590 --> 00:05:56.650 align:middle line:84% to know that what I was doing wasn't very good. 00:05:56.650 --> 00:05:58.400 align:middle line:84% But that was maybe a few years after that. 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:02.310 align:middle line:84% And then, I taught myself how to like the poems. 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:02.810 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:06:02.810 --> 00:06:06.350 align:middle line:90% 00:06:06.350 --> 00:06:10.640 align:middle line:90% There's a hand way in the back. 00:06:10.640 --> 00:06:13.710 align:middle line:84% Did James Tate think it was his poem? 00:06:13.710 --> 00:06:17.030 align:middle line:84% OK, the question was, did James Tate think it was his poem? 00:06:17.030 --> 00:06:18.130 align:middle line:90% Sure, yeah. 00:06:18.130 --> 00:06:20.030 align:middle line:90% I tricked him. 00:06:20.030 --> 00:06:24.200 align:middle line:90% No, yeah, I didn't get to-- 00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:26.810 align:middle line:84% I don't know if anybody's had personal conversations 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:29.870 align:middle line:84% with him, but I didn't get to talk to him very much, 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:34.640 align:middle line:84% like, two sentences or so afterwards, which is 00:06:34.640 --> 00:06:36.890 align:middle line:90% two of my favorite sentences. 00:06:36.890 --> 00:06:38.355 align:middle line:90% So that's fine. 00:06:38.355 --> 00:06:39.980 align:middle line:84% But we didn't even talk about the poem. 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.110 align:middle line:84% I think he just said, it's nice to see you. 00:06:42.110 --> 00:06:45.780 align:middle line:84% And I was glad to be here or something. 00:06:45.780 --> 00:06:49.010 align:middle line:84% But I like to think that, sure, that he did. 00:06:49.010 --> 00:06:51.320 align:middle line:90% It's a long story but I-- 00:06:51.320 --> 00:06:52.910 align:middle line:90% yeah, never mind. 00:06:52.910 --> 00:06:55.430 align:middle line:90% Let's have a beer later. 00:06:55.430 --> 00:06:58.385 align:middle line:84% It involves a broken-down van and some magic. 00:06:58.385 --> 00:07:03.940 align:middle line:90% 00:07:03.940 --> 00:07:04.440 align:middle line:90% Hi. 00:07:04.440 --> 00:07:06.990 align:middle line:90% Thank you for reading. 00:07:06.990 --> 00:07:10.110 align:middle line:84% Since I missed the vice presidential debate tonight, 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:11.910 align:middle line:84% I was hoping you and your opponent 00:07:11.910 --> 00:07:15.980 align:middle line:84% could say a few comments about the economy. 00:07:15.980 --> 00:07:17.110 align:middle line:90% Whoo! 00:07:17.110 --> 00:07:18.940 align:middle line:84% I think Zach already answered that question 00:07:18.940 --> 00:07:21.957 align:middle line:84% with his broken-down van and a lot of magic. 00:07:21.957 --> 00:07:24.040 align:middle line:84% I'm from South Bend, Indiana, and that's about all 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:25.190 align:middle line:90% we have to work with there. 00:07:25.190 --> 00:07:27.160 align:middle line:84% So that's how we're going to fix this economy. 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:30.550 align:middle line:90% 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:33.452 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I have no money at all and have no possibility 00:07:33.452 --> 00:07:34.660 align:middle line:90% of probably really making it. 00:07:34.660 --> 00:07:37.270 align:middle line:84% So I'm out of the realm of that conversation. 00:07:37.270 --> 00:07:39.580 align:middle line:90% It doesn't affect me. 00:07:39.580 --> 00:07:42.592 align:middle line:84% I'll make my couple of bucks for the rest of my life 00:07:42.592 --> 00:07:43.300 align:middle line:90% and I'll be fine. 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:49.690 align:middle line:90% 00:07:49.690 --> 00:07:54.310 align:middle line:90% One last question or not? 00:07:54.310 --> 00:07:56.336 align:middle line:90% I can just tell you about-- 00:07:56.336 --> 00:07:57.223 align:middle line:90% Or not. 00:07:57.223 --> 00:08:00.100 align:middle line:90% 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:01.930 align:middle line:90% Thank you for your performances. 00:08:01.930 --> 00:08:02.980 align:middle line:90% I enjoyed both of them. 00:08:02.980 --> 00:08:03.938 align:middle line:90% They're very different. 00:08:03.938 --> 00:08:05.470 align:middle line:84% I'm curious what, Joyelle, you were 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:08.650 align:middle line:84% reading when you wrote "Percussion Grenade" and also 00:08:08.650 --> 00:08:09.250 align:middle line:90% the last one. 00:08:09.250 --> 00:08:11.050 align:middle line:84% And also, I'm curious what you were 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:13.585 align:middle line:84% reading when you wrote Fjords if you can even remember. 00:08:13.585 --> 00:08:16.690 align:middle line:90% 00:08:16.690 --> 00:08:17.470 align:middle line:90% Excuse me, buddy. 00:08:17.470 --> 00:08:20.140 align:middle line:90% I've now snared this man. 00:08:20.140 --> 00:08:21.880 align:middle line:90% Let me think about it a minute. 00:08:21.880 --> 00:08:23.560 align:middle line:84% Well, I read-- to write Glock Chorus, 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.440 align:middle line:84% first I read a book which I mentioned. 00:08:25.440 --> 00:08:26.940 align:middle line:84% And it's called-- what is it called? 00:08:26.940 --> 00:08:30.370 align:middle line:84% The Emerald City, it's a non-fiction book 00:08:30.370 --> 00:08:33.076 align:middle line:84% about how life was lived in the Green Zone. 00:08:33.076 --> 00:08:33.909 align:middle line:90% And you can find it. 00:08:33.909 --> 00:08:35.380 align:middle line:84% It's not precisely called the Emerald City, 00:08:35.380 --> 00:08:37.588 align:middle line:84% but I'm sure if you google "Green Zone Emerald City," 00:08:37.588 --> 00:08:38.230 align:middle line:90% you'll find it. 00:08:38.230 --> 00:08:41.873 align:middle line:84% And it was made into a really shitty Matt Damon movie, where 00:08:41.873 --> 00:08:44.290 align:middle line:84% it was totally made about Matt Damon, which, it turns out, 00:08:44.290 --> 00:08:46.082 align:middle line:84% is not what the Iraq war is actually about. 00:08:46.082 --> 00:08:49.480 align:middle line:90% 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.180 align:middle line:84% Matt Damon totally took the broken-down van and magic 00:08:52.180 --> 00:08:53.740 align:middle line:90% approach to fixing that problem. 00:08:53.740 --> 00:08:54.970 align:middle line:90% And it worked for him. 00:08:54.970 --> 00:08:55.900 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Hollywood. 00:08:55.900 --> 00:08:59.560 align:middle line:84% So that was where some of the anecdotes, like the cat 00:08:59.560 --> 00:09:01.840 align:middle line:84% extermination and some of the other anecdotes 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.720 align:middle line:90% that come into this are. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:11.500 align:middle line:84% But basically, I've read some books about mad cow disease 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:14.215 align:middle line:84% and scrapie and how these vectors work 00:09:14.215 --> 00:09:16.090 align:middle line:84% and how they were discovered and nailed down. 00:09:16.090 --> 00:09:17.740 align:middle line:90% And I read a lot of news. 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:18.652 align:middle line:90% I read Al Jazeera. 00:09:18.652 --> 00:09:21.640 align:middle line:90% 00:09:21.640 --> 00:09:24.050 align:middle line:84% There's so much bad things happening in the world, 00:09:24.050 --> 00:09:26.470 align:middle line:84% and I feel like it's my job to know about them all. 00:09:26.470 --> 00:09:29.560 align:middle line:84% So I spend a lot of time online reading the news 00:09:29.560 --> 00:09:33.228 align:middle line:84% from different news sources, and especially Al Jazeera. 00:09:33.228 --> 00:09:35.020 align:middle line:84% Just sort of seeing the kind of suffering-- 00:09:35.020 --> 00:09:37.198 align:middle line:84% I mean, this is a downer after an upbeat reading. 00:09:37.198 --> 00:09:38.740 align:middle line:84% My readings are very upbeat, but they 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:42.028 align:middle line:84% come from a kind of, like, appalled hysteria 00:09:42.028 --> 00:09:43.070 align:middle line:90% in the face of the stuff. 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:45.028 align:middle line:84% I have a very medieval worldview that the world 00:09:45.028 --> 00:09:46.120 align:middle line:90% is bad and getting worse. 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:48.790 align:middle line:84% But it's good if you're, like, a disease because it's 00:09:48.790 --> 00:09:49.883 align:middle line:90% getting better for that. 00:09:49.883 --> 00:09:51.550 align:middle line:84% Like, if you look at it from a-- and so, 00:09:51.550 --> 00:09:54.280 align:middle line:84% sometimes I do look at it from a microbe's point of view. 00:09:54.280 --> 00:09:56.170 align:middle line:84% Or from, like, the prion's point of view, 00:09:56.170 --> 00:09:58.280 align:middle line:84% like the king prion's going to come and take care of it all, 00:09:58.280 --> 00:09:59.290 align:middle line:90% make it all go away. 00:09:59.290 --> 00:10:03.160 align:middle line:84% You know, that's going to happen, not Matt Damon. 00:10:03.160 --> 00:10:06.430 align:middle line:84% So yeah, so I read stuff about gross diseases. 00:10:06.430 --> 00:10:08.200 align:middle line:84% My buddy here, Brent, just gave me 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:11.950 align:middle line:84% a book on how forensic scientists study 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:13.370 align:middle line:90% co-mingled human remains. 00:10:13.370 --> 00:10:16.570 align:middle line:84% I'm going to sink my teeth into that later. 00:10:16.570 --> 00:10:17.560 align:middle line:90% The book, you mean. 00:10:17.560 --> 00:10:19.540 align:middle line:84% - The book, yeah, and co-mingled human remains. 00:10:19.540 --> 00:10:22.300 align:middle line:84% I read a lot of Shakespeare and old-fashioned stuff 00:10:22.300 --> 00:10:24.340 align:middle line:84% because I like weird dictions and especially 00:10:24.340 --> 00:10:25.510 align:middle line:90% weird modes of address. 00:10:25.510 --> 00:10:29.470 align:middle line:84% Oh, and I read Just Kids by Patti Smith. 00:10:29.470 --> 00:10:31.600 align:middle line:90% So I read really widely. 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.610 align:middle line:84% But I definitely read a lot of current events 00:10:33.610 --> 00:10:36.040 align:middle line:84% and a lot of, like, pop science so 00:10:36.040 --> 00:10:38.440 align:middle line:84% that I can try to get my head around science 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.810 align:middle line:84% because the vocabulary and the metaphors 00:10:40.810 --> 00:10:43.840 align:middle line:84% and the hope that other species might take over soon 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:45.350 align:middle line:90% makes me feel good. 00:10:45.350 --> 00:10:48.280 align:middle line:84% That seems to be a good solution to the humanist's problem, 00:10:48.280 --> 00:10:51.550 align:middle line:90% The Anthropocene. 00:10:51.550 --> 00:10:54.130 align:middle line:84% Just a very quick answer, the exact formula for this book 00:10:54.130 --> 00:10:56.632 align:middle line:84% was, I was, as I mentioned before, reading-- 00:10:56.632 --> 00:10:58.090 align:middle line:84% I was trying to write my own Memoir 00:10:58.090 --> 00:11:00.310 align:middle line:90% of the Hawk, the Tate book. 00:11:00.310 --> 00:11:02.830 align:middle line:84% And then, later, the post-Spork poems 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:05.620 align:middle line:84% were more influenced-- or some combination between that 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:07.628 align:middle line:90% and Anne Carson's Short Talk. 00:11:07.628 --> 00:11:09.670 align:middle line:84% That's one of my very favorite books of all time. 00:11:09.670 --> 00:11:12.520 align:middle line:84% So I wanted to try to do something like that, 00:11:12.520 --> 00:11:14.740 align:middle line:84% and maybe fell a little short with that. 00:11:14.740 --> 00:11:16.040 align:middle line:90% But I love that book. 00:11:16.040 --> 00:11:20.350 align:middle line:84% And I was also listening to three specific bands 00:11:20.350 --> 00:11:21.890 align:middle line:84% over and over again while writing, 00:11:21.890 --> 00:11:23.710 align:middle line:84% which were Wolves in the Throne Room 00:11:23.710 --> 00:11:25.660 align:middle line:90% and Tecumseh and Godspeed You! 00:11:25.660 --> 00:11:26.875 align:middle line:90% Black Emperor. 00:11:26.875 --> 00:11:28.000 align:middle line:90% Can I make another comment? 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:28.510 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:11:28.510 --> 00:11:30.220 align:middle line:84% Another kind of ironical thing is 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:33.227 align:middle line:84% that I also have been losing my hearing in the last five years. 00:11:33.227 --> 00:11:35.560 align:middle line:84% So while I was writing a lot of this Percussion Grenade, 00:11:35.560 --> 00:11:37.210 align:middle line:84% I was losing my hearing at the same time. 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:38.210 align:middle line:90% I wear hearing aids now. 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:39.760 align:middle line:90% They don't work that great. 00:11:39.760 --> 00:11:42.850 align:middle line:84% This is another reason I'm so psyched to see these ladies. 00:11:42.850 --> 00:11:45.640 align:middle line:84% Not only because it's all about me, but because. 00:11:45.640 --> 00:11:48.220 align:middle line:84% Like, look at the amazing poetry performance 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:49.592 align:middle line:90% these ladies put on. 00:11:49.592 --> 00:11:51.550 align:middle line:84% We sent them our poems and then they figure out 00:11:51.550 --> 00:11:52.210 align:middle line:90% how to perform them. 00:11:52.210 --> 00:11:53.740 align:middle line:84% And they perform them with no text, 00:11:53.740 --> 00:11:56.578 align:middle line:84% and they totally rock it and are amazing. 00:11:56.578 --> 00:11:57.995 align:middle line:84% So, first of all, a hand for them. 00:11:57.995 --> 00:12:01.390 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:12:01.390 --> 00:12:04.785 align:middle line:90% 00:12:04.785 --> 00:12:06.580 align:middle line:84% But losing my hearing did two things. 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:08.113 align:middle line:90% It made me-- is this still on? 00:12:08.113 --> 00:12:09.060 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:12:09.060 --> 00:12:11.510 align:middle line:84% It made me think more about what sound is 00:12:11.510 --> 00:12:13.320 align:middle line:84% and how it cuts through and possesses you, 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:15.320 align:middle line:84% even when you don't have what other people think 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:15.990 align:middle line:90% of as hearing. 00:12:15.990 --> 00:12:19.885 align:middle line:84% And secondly, since I wear these hearing aids now, 00:12:19.885 --> 00:12:22.010 align:middle line:84% it's like having two little microphones in my ears. 00:12:22.010 --> 00:12:24.110 align:middle line:84% And I have no natural noise in my life anymore. 00:12:24.110 --> 00:12:27.110 align:middle line:84% Every noise I hear is basically digitized. 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:29.660 align:middle line:84% And so, it's like, I've blasted off, man. 00:12:29.660 --> 00:12:30.970 align:middle line:90% I'm gone. 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:33.830 align:middle line:84% I'm like Major Tom, like, out there, like, the world is 00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:34.940 align:middle line:90% completely digital to me. 00:12:34.940 --> 00:12:36.230 align:middle line:90% And I'm loving it. 00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:39.650 align:middle line:84% It just makes me feel crazy and magic, so I'm into that. 00:12:39.650 --> 00:12:42.650 align:middle line:90% OK, that's it. 00:12:42.650 --> 00:12:45.530 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:12:45.530 --> 00:12:48.797 align:middle line:84% Please buy the Spork books and the Poetry Center books. 00:12:48.797 --> 00:12:49.297 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:12:49.297 --> 00:12:52.231 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:12:52.231 --> 00:12:53.180 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Joyelle. 00:12:53.180 --> 00:12:55.030 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Zachary. 00:12:55.030 --> 00:12:56.000 align:middle line:90%