WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.170 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.170 --> 00:00:02.880 align:middle line:90%
Next poem is a poem with a--

00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:05.160 align:middle line:84%
I guess you could
say a found title,

00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:10.710 align:middle line:84%
in the way that artists and
exhibits will sometimes display

00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:14.430 align:middle line:84%
found objects, objet trouvé,
like bits of driftwood

00:00:14.430 --> 00:00:15.030 align:middle line:90%
or stuff.

00:00:15.030 --> 00:00:19.500 align:middle line:84%
[CHUCKLES] Marianne
Moore often will

00:00:19.500 --> 00:00:25.380 align:middle line:84%
use strange quotations, or
funny phrases, or odd phrases,

00:00:25.380 --> 00:00:30.067 align:middle line:84%
anyway, that she's
found in magazines.

00:00:30.067 --> 00:00:32.400 align:middle line:84%
Marianne Moore's favorite
magazine appeared to have been

00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:37.680 align:middle line:84%
The Illustrated London News,
a magazine I only, in England,

00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:38.797 align:middle line:90%
ever saw in dentists'.

00:00:38.797 --> 00:00:41.130 align:middle line:84%
But she's found some very
curious and interesting things

00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:42.120 align:middle line:90%
there.

00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:49.140 align:middle line:84%
But this comes from over a
storefront in Coney Island

00:00:49.140 --> 00:00:51.630 align:middle line:90%
about 10 years ago.

00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:59.820 align:middle line:84%
And it was a tattooist's, and
it said at that time, Blackie,

00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:01.915 align:middle line:90%
the Electric Rembrandt.

00:01:01.915 --> 00:01:04.290 align:middle line:84%
Which was really great, because
if you think of Rembrandt

00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:07.380 align:middle line:84%
as being the artist of
chiaroscuro, light and dark,

00:01:07.380 --> 00:01:10.200 align:middle line:84%
that is also the
tattooist's art.

00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:11.070 align:middle line:90%
That seemed nice.

00:01:11.070 --> 00:01:12.487 align:middle line:84%
And it's one of
the few times I've

00:01:12.487 --> 00:01:15.510 align:middle line:84%
kept a title around with me
until I could find something

00:01:15.510 --> 00:01:16.140 align:middle line:90%
to do with it.

00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:20.220 align:middle line:84%
Actually, it was
only a few weeks.

00:01:20.220 --> 00:01:23.550 align:middle line:84%
But it was the title that
attracted me to it first.

00:01:23.550 --> 00:01:28.020 align:middle line:84%
It was the thing I saw
over the storefront.

00:01:28.020 --> 00:01:30.186 align:middle line:84%
"Blackie, the
Electric Rembrandt."

00:01:30.186 --> 00:01:33.590 align:middle line:90%


00:01:33.590 --> 00:01:37.130 align:middle line:84%
We watch through the
shop front while Blackie

00:01:37.130 --> 00:01:41.870 align:middle line:84%
draws stars, an equal
concentration on his

00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:44.780 align:middle line:90%
and the youngster's faces.

00:01:44.780 --> 00:01:49.340 align:middle line:84%
The hand is steady and
accurate, but the boy does not

00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:52.250 align:middle line:84%
see it, for his eyes
follow the point

00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:56.180 align:middle line:84%
that touches, quick,
dark movement.

00:01:56.180 --> 00:02:00.410 align:middle line:84%
A virginal arm beneath
his rolled sleeve.

00:02:00.410 --> 00:02:01.970 align:middle line:90%
He holds his breath.

00:02:01.970 --> 00:02:05.280 align:middle line:90%


00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.330 align:middle line:84%
Now that it is finished, he
hands a few bills to Blackie

00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:11.790 align:middle line:84%
and leaves with a
bandage on his arm,

00:02:11.790 --> 00:02:15.210 align:middle line:84%
under which gleam
10 stars hanging

00:02:15.210 --> 00:02:18.660 align:middle line:90%
in a blue, thick cluster.

00:02:18.660 --> 00:02:20.910 align:middle line:90%
Now he is star-like.

00:02:20.910 --> 00:02:29.478 align:middle line:90%


00:02:29.478 --> 00:02:32.300 align:middle line:84%
It was once translated
into Italian

00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:34.160 align:middle line:84%
and the last word,
star-like, was

00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:36.560 align:middle line:84%
translated stellato,
which it strikes

00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:39.010 align:middle line:90%
me is a very pretty word.

00:02:39.010 --> 00:02:40.000 align:middle line:90%