WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.960 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.960 --> 00:00:02.820 align:middle line:84% The last book that I had that's over there 00:00:02.820 --> 00:00:04.950 align:middle line:84% is called Your Father On the Train of Ghosts. 00:00:04.950 --> 00:00:08.250 align:middle line:84% And it was a collaboration with another poet, which was 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:11.730 align:middle line:90% something kind of new for me. 00:00:11.730 --> 00:00:13.890 align:middle line:84% I had met another poet who Joshua also 00:00:13.890 --> 00:00:15.420 align:middle line:90% knows named John Gallaher. 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:17.370 align:middle line:84% And I had been really interested, I mentioned 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:20.670 align:middle line:84% this last night, why does making art 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:23.250 align:middle line:90% mean that we have to be alone? 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:27.070 align:middle line:90% This was a puzzle for me. 00:00:27.070 --> 00:00:30.670 align:middle line:84% Why do we have to go away from the people we care about? 00:00:30.670 --> 00:00:31.450 align:middle line:90% You all know this. 00:00:31.450 --> 00:00:33.075 align:middle line:84% Most of you who are writers or artists, 00:00:33.075 --> 00:00:36.250 align:middle line:84% you know that there's something about going into another place 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:39.700 align:middle line:84% and closing the door, as our friend Miss Wolfe said, 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:42.520 align:middle line:84% and having that time away from other people. 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:44.440 align:middle line:84% And that's fine, as far as it goes. 00:00:44.440 --> 00:00:48.220 align:middle line:84% But it can be lonely, can't it, to be an artist or a writer? 00:00:48.220 --> 00:00:51.013 align:middle line:84% And I thought, it shouldn't have to be that way. 00:00:51.013 --> 00:00:52.930 align:middle line:84% And I thought about the example of the dadaist 00:00:52.930 --> 00:00:57.400 align:middle line:84% and the surrealist, for whom writing was a communal act, 00:00:57.400 --> 00:00:58.600 align:middle line:90% often, at least. 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.420 align:middle line:84% So John Gallaher and I started writing poems back and forth 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:02.240 align:middle line:90% to one another. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:06.130 align:middle line:84% And over 16 months, we wrote 750 pages of poems. 00:01:06.130 --> 00:01:07.733 align:middle line:90% It was astonishing. 00:01:07.733 --> 00:01:10.150 align:middle line:84% And it was a beautiful way to be alive for a little while. 00:01:10.150 --> 00:01:11.770 align:middle line:84% I was asked this morning in a class, 00:01:11.770 --> 00:01:13.700 align:middle line:90% what does that mean to you? 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:14.710 align:middle line:90% What did it mean to you? 00:01:14.710 --> 00:01:17.890 align:middle line:84% And I said, you know, I think it was about friendship. 00:01:17.890 --> 00:01:20.770 align:middle line:84% I think it was about what shape would friendship 00:01:20.770 --> 00:01:23.500 align:middle line:90% take if friendship were a poem? 00:01:23.500 --> 00:01:26.710 align:middle line:84% So we wrote these poems, and I'm going to read a few of them 00:01:26.710 --> 00:01:28.750 align:middle line:90% from the book. 00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:34.430 align:middle line:84% It was a fascinating way to be there, to be here. 00:01:34.430 --> 00:01:38.390 align:middle line:84% This is called Your Lover, Later. 00:01:38.390 --> 00:01:42.770 align:middle line:84% Your lover is on the roof, the gray roof. 00:01:42.770 --> 00:01:46.250 align:middle line:84% Your lover is sitting on the roof of that house 00:01:46.250 --> 00:01:48.140 align:middle line:90% you remember. 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:52.070 align:middle line:84% Your lover, long ago, sitting there with both hands down. 00:01:52.070 --> 00:01:57.970 align:middle line:84% Your lover, sitting there, waving into the pockets of air. 00:01:57.970 --> 00:01:58.990 align:middle line:90% It's an easy idea. 00:01:58.990 --> 00:02:02.100 align:middle line:90% 00:02:02.100 --> 00:02:04.890 align:middle line:84% All the people of the town are out on their roofs, 00:02:04.890 --> 00:02:08.880 align:middle line:84% little people over their porch lights, legs over the edges, 00:02:08.880 --> 00:02:11.595 align:middle line:84% like so many high and beautiful beings. 00:02:11.595 --> 00:02:14.190 align:middle line:90% 00:02:14.190 --> 00:02:19.110 align:middle line:90% And one of them is your lover. 00:02:19.110 --> 00:02:20.920 align:middle line:90% Remember? 00:02:20.920 --> 00:02:23.770 align:middle line:84% Some of them, you can see, and some not. 00:02:23.770 --> 00:02:25.600 align:middle line:90% Call to them. 00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:30.190 align:middle line:84% Why not call to them, and then listen all night, all night, 00:02:30.190 --> 00:02:33.820 align:middle line:84% the sound of that town, your lover on the roof, and a train 00:02:33.820 --> 00:02:38.840 align:middle line:84% along the horizon that's crowded with hotels. 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:40.910 align:middle line:84% And the Ford dealership is setting 00:02:40.910 --> 00:02:46.890 align:middle line:84% off balloons, red and blue and green and white balloons. 00:02:46.890 --> 00:02:50.050 align:middle line:90% I'd like to climb up there. 00:02:50.050 --> 00:02:53.400 align:middle line:84% It would be such an easy concept, 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:56.970 align:middle line:90% such an easy way to be. 00:02:56.970 --> 00:03:01.430 align:middle line:90% And what about your lover? 00:03:01.430 --> 00:03:05.360 align:middle line:84% It's such a large town, isn't it? 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:06.620 align:middle line:90% So many roofs. 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.590 align:middle line:84% And so many people with their hands at their sides 00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:11.530 align:middle line:90% in the future. 00:03:11.530 --> 00:03:13.810 align:middle line:90% It's easy. 00:03:13.810 --> 00:03:16.970 align:middle line:90% It has to be. 00:03:16.970 --> 00:03:19.500 align:middle line:90% Tell me again what to do. 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:20.000 align:middle line:90%