WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.780 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.780 --> 00:00:03.450 align:middle line:84% This and the last few poems that I've read 00:00:03.450 --> 00:00:09.270 align:middle line:84% come from a book of mine that was published in England 00:00:09.270 --> 00:00:12.090 align:middle line:84% last year and is going to be published in this country 00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:12.780 align:middle line:90% next year. 00:00:12.780 --> 00:00:16.410 align:middle line:90% 00:00:16.410 --> 00:00:18.720 align:middle line:90% This is a commercial. 00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:21.510 align:middle line:90% The book is called Moly. 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:23.100 align:middle line:84% And the next poem I'm going to read 00:00:23.100 --> 00:00:25.680 align:middle line:90% is the title poem of the book. 00:00:25.680 --> 00:00:30.060 align:middle line:84% So I should now explain what "moly" is. 00:00:30.060 --> 00:00:34.830 align:middle line:84% In the Odyssey, Odysseus's seamen 00:00:34.830 --> 00:00:37.170 align:middle line:90% get turned by the witch Circe-- 00:00:37.170 --> 00:00:39.000 align:middle line:90% they get turned into pigs. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:47.280 align:middle line:84% And Odysseus has cunningly remained behind, 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.480 align:middle line:84% but though he is capable on occasion of abandoning his men, 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:53.850 align:middle line:84% in this case, he has a ship that he can't manage 00:00:53.850 --> 00:00:56.460 align:middle line:90% to move without their help. 00:00:56.460 --> 00:00:59.040 align:middle line:84% And so he realizes he's got to try and do 00:00:59.040 --> 00:01:00.010 align:middle line:90% something about this. 00:01:00.010 --> 00:01:03.270 align:middle line:84% And so he goes towards Circe's house, 00:01:03.270 --> 00:01:07.320 align:middle line:84% not really knowing how he's going to prevent himself 00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:09.720 align:middle line:90% from being turned into a pig. 00:01:09.720 --> 00:01:13.440 align:middle line:84% And luckily, one of his guardian gods, 00:01:13.440 --> 00:01:21.420 align:middle line:84% Hermes, suddenly appears before him and says, "Eat this herb." 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:26.765 align:middle line:84% It's called moly-- a white flower and a black root. 00:01:26.765 --> 00:01:29.670 align:middle line:90% And if you eat this-- 00:01:29.670 --> 00:01:30.720 align:middle line:90% It says, "Take it." 00:01:30.720 --> 00:01:36.328 align:middle line:84% And it's unclear whether it means eat or carry on you. 00:01:36.328 --> 00:01:37.870 align:middle line:84% But I think it's more than an amulet. 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:39.780 align:middle line:90% I think it's a kind of drug. 00:01:39.780 --> 00:01:43.560 align:middle line:84% "This will prevent you from being turned into a pig 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:45.000 align:middle line:90% by Circe. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:50.610 align:middle line:84% When she has failed to turn you into a pig, 00:01:50.610 --> 00:01:55.295 align:middle line:84% she will then take you into her bed and try to unman you." 00:01:55.295 --> 00:01:56.670 align:middle line:84% Presumably, he would be impotent, 00:01:56.670 --> 00:01:58.930 align:middle line:84% but this will prevent you from being unmanned as well. 00:01:58.930 --> 00:02:02.320 align:middle line:84% And then she'll do anything you want. 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:04.000 align:middle line:84% So that's the epigraph to my book. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.820 align:middle line:84% I mean, it's not the actual words, 00:02:06.820 --> 00:02:09.930 align:middle line:90% but that's what moly is about. 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:12.270 align:middle line:84% It prevents you from being turned into a pig. 00:02:12.270 --> 00:02:15.770 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:17.725 align:middle line:90% 00:02:17.725 --> 00:02:18.600 align:middle line:90% This is a funny poem. 00:02:18.600 --> 00:02:21.420 align:middle line:84% This is not directly to the subject, I guess, 00:02:21.420 --> 00:02:24.150 align:middle line:84% because this is not spoken by Odysseus. 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:27.510 align:middle line:84% This is spoken by one of the seamen, who 00:02:27.510 --> 00:02:30.120 align:middle line:84% is in the process of the poem being turned into a pig 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:31.470 align:middle line:90% by Circe. 00:02:31.470 --> 00:02:32.970 align:middle line:84% He knows at the beginning he's being 00:02:32.970 --> 00:02:35.190 align:middle line:84% turned in something he doesn't like, but he doesn't know what. 00:02:35.190 --> 00:02:36.570 align:middle line:90% Then, he finds out it's a pig. 00:02:36.570 --> 00:02:39.120 align:middle line:84% And then at the end of the poem, he is looking for some moly 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:40.350 align:middle line:90% to get back. 00:02:40.350 --> 00:02:44.760 align:middle line:90% 00:02:44.760 --> 00:02:48.370 align:middle line:84% But he's left still looking for it. 00:02:48.370 --> 00:02:51.500 align:middle line:90% And that is a seaman speaking. 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:52.000 align:middle line:90% "Moly." 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.870 align:middle line:90% 00:02:56.870 --> 00:03:03.290 align:middle line:84% "Nightmare of beasthood, snorting, how to wake. 00:03:03.290 --> 00:03:04.970 align:middle line:90% I woke. 00:03:04.970 --> 00:03:09.440 align:middle line:84% What beasthood skin she made me take? 00:03:09.440 --> 00:03:11.900 align:middle line:84% Leathery toad that ruts for days on end, 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:16.310 align:middle line:84% or cringing dribbling dog, man servile friend, 00:03:16.310 --> 00:03:19.250 align:middle line:84% or cat that prettily pounces on its meat, 00:03:19.250 --> 00:03:23.060 align:middle line:84% tortures it hours, then does not care to eat-- 00:03:23.060 --> 00:03:29.090 align:middle line:84% Parrot, moth, shark, wolf, crocodile, ass, flea. 00:03:29.090 --> 00:03:32.990 align:middle line:84% What germs, what jostling mobs there were in me? 00:03:32.990 --> 00:03:35.510 align:middle line:90% 00:03:35.510 --> 00:03:40.880 align:middle line:84% These seem like bristles, and the hide is tough. 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:43.730 align:middle line:90% No web or claw here-- 00:03:43.730 --> 00:03:47.180 align:middle line:90% each foot ends in hoof. 00:03:47.180 --> 00:03:50.870 align:middle line:84% Into what bulk has method disappeared? 00:03:50.870 --> 00:03:53.420 align:middle line:90% Like ham, streaked. 00:03:53.420 --> 00:03:58.550 align:middle line:84% I am gross-- grey, gross, flap-eared. 00:03:58.550 --> 00:04:02.420 align:middle line:84% The pale-lashed eyes my only human feature. 00:04:02.420 --> 00:04:05.930 align:middle line:90% My teeth tear, tear. 00:04:05.930 --> 00:04:10.580 align:middle line:84% I am the snouted creature that bites through anything, root, 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:13.310 align:middle line:90% wire, or can. 00:04:13.310 --> 00:04:17.230 align:middle line:84% If I was not afraid, I'd eat a man. 00:04:17.230 --> 00:04:21.490 align:middle line:84% Oh, a man's flesh already is in mine. 00:04:21.490 --> 00:04:25.390 align:middle line:90% Hand and foot poised for risk. 00:04:25.390 --> 00:04:26.155 align:middle line:90% Buried in swine. 00:04:26.155 --> 00:04:30.670 align:middle line:90% 00:04:30.670 --> 00:04:36.370 align:middle line:84% I root and root, you think that it is greed. 00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:41.800 align:middle line:84% It is, but I seek out a plant I need. 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.520 align:middle line:84% Direct me gods, whose changes are all holy, 00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:50.380 align:middle line:84% to where it flickers deep in grass, the moly-- 00:04:50.380 --> 00:04:55.180 align:middle line:84% Cool flash of magic in each leaf and shoot, from milky flower 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:58.720 align:middle line:90% to the black forked root. 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:04.900 align:middle line:84% From this fat dungeon I could rise to skin and human title, 00:05:04.900 --> 00:05:08.210 align:middle line:90% putting pig within. 00:05:08.210 --> 00:05:14.930 align:middle line:84% I push my big, gray, wet snout through the green, 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:18.400 align:middle line:84% dreaming the flower I have never seen." 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:19.295 align:middle line:90%