WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.945 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.945 --> 00:00:03.570 align:middle line:84% This poem for me summarized a whole lot 00:00:03.570 --> 00:00:06.210 align:middle line:84% of things that were sort of running around loose in some 00:00:06.210 --> 00:00:08.970 align:middle line:84% of the other poems or not really in any of the poems 00:00:08.970 --> 00:00:11.730 align:middle line:84% so much as between them in the book. 00:00:11.730 --> 00:00:16.590 align:middle line:84% And finally raises a question, which 00:00:16.590 --> 00:00:20.100 align:middle line:84% is a difficult one and which of some 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:23.443 align:middle line:84% of the poems later in the book try to respond 00:00:23.443 --> 00:00:24.360 align:middle line:90% to one way or another. 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:28.707 align:middle line:90% 00:00:28.707 --> 00:00:32.987 align:middle line:84% And there's a scene in the newest Teachings of Don Juan 00:00:32.987 --> 00:00:34.320 align:middle line:90% book that kind of fascinated me. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:35.590 align:middle line:90% This is number three. 00:00:35.590 --> 00:00:38.790 align:middle line:84% I don't know if The Journey to Ixtlan has come out now. 00:00:38.790 --> 00:00:40.980 align:middle line:84% And are you familiar at all with this book? 00:00:40.980 --> 00:00:44.535 align:middle line:84% I presume you are coming from the Southwest and all, 00:00:44.535 --> 00:00:45.660 align:middle line:90% The Teachings of Don Juan-- 00:00:45.660 --> 00:00:49.230 align:middle line:84% A Separate Reality and the new book? 00:00:49.230 --> 00:00:52.290 align:middle line:84% Some people nodding and some not. 00:00:52.290 --> 00:00:54.480 align:middle line:84% I have a suspicion that Don Juan resides somewhere 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:57.480 align:middle line:84% in the vicinity of Tucson from the descriptions of things 00:00:57.480 --> 00:00:58.230 align:middle line:90% in the third book. 00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:01.290 align:middle line:84% But anyway he has-- he has Carlos 00:01:01.290 --> 00:01:03.750 align:middle line:84% out trying to learn how to be a hunter and so on. 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:05.459 align:middle line:84% And comes a particular crucial day 00:01:05.459 --> 00:01:08.520 align:middle line:84% when Carlos has built his trap on the spur of the moment 00:01:08.520 --> 00:01:12.810 align:middle line:84% and he catches the rabbit that he's supposed to have caught. 00:01:12.810 --> 00:01:15.208 align:middle line:84% And Don Juan's explained to him beforehand but 00:01:15.208 --> 00:01:16.500 align:middle line:90% that this is all well and good. 00:01:16.500 --> 00:01:17.950 align:middle line:90% He's done it many times. 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:20.580 align:middle line:84% Each time before this, Don Juan has undertaken 00:01:20.580 --> 00:01:23.880 align:middle line:84% to kill the rabbit and to prepare it 00:01:23.880 --> 00:01:26.640 align:middle line:84% right then for eating and they've eaten them. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:28.770 align:middle line:84% This particular time he catches the rabbit 00:01:28.770 --> 00:01:31.350 align:middle line:84% and he tells Carlos he's going to have to kill it. 00:01:31.350 --> 00:01:32.220 align:middle line:84% He's just going to have to kill it. 00:01:32.220 --> 00:01:34.637 align:middle line:84% He doesn't say you're going to have to kill it by yourself 00:01:34.637 --> 00:01:37.080 align:middle line:84% and suddenly Carlos realizes he's never killed one before. 00:01:37.080 --> 00:01:41.250 align:middle line:84% And so he sees it in his trap and proceeds 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:45.270 align:middle line:84% to go through all kinds of complaints and whatnot 00:01:45.270 --> 00:01:47.778 align:middle line:84% with Don Juan telling him you know I really can't do this. 00:01:47.778 --> 00:01:49.320 align:middle line:84% I've decided it's not that important. 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:52.000 align:middle line:84% We'll let the rabbit go and we'll just come back and so on. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.340 align:middle line:90% Don Juan's say it's too late. 00:01:54.340 --> 00:01:56.940 align:middle line:84% You can't turn back like that now, it's not even a choice. 00:01:56.940 --> 00:02:00.230 align:middle line:84% All the powers have brought you this rabbit 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:03.690 align:middle line:84% and now you have to pay respect to the rabbit 00:02:03.690 --> 00:02:06.540 align:middle line:84% by doing what you set out to do by finishing killing and eating 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:08.940 align:middle line:90% it and thanking it. 00:02:08.940 --> 00:02:10.668 align:middle line:90% And Carlos plays with it. 00:02:10.668 --> 00:02:11.460 align:middle line:90% He can't handle it. 00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:14.790 align:middle line:84% And so he proceeds to try and open the cage and it's stuck. 00:02:14.790 --> 00:02:17.160 align:middle line:84% And so having tried to begin to open the cage 00:02:17.160 --> 00:02:18.840 align:middle line:84% and it's being stuck he begins trying 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:21.840 align:middle line:84% to kick the cage and finally stomps on the cage 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:24.553 align:middle line:84% to break it open and does and kills the rabbit. 00:02:24.553 --> 00:02:27.794 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:27.794 --> 00:02:31.410 align:middle line:90% 00:02:31.410 --> 00:02:33.930 align:middle line:84% That book is full of things which are-- 00:02:33.930 --> 00:02:35.760 align:middle line:84% we're laughing if you consider that-- if we 00:02:35.760 --> 00:02:37.885 align:middle line:84% consider that funny which of course it is in a way. 00:02:37.885 --> 00:02:43.710 align:middle line:90% 00:02:43.710 --> 00:02:47.583 align:middle line:84% That's a much more one of other scene that's in that book is-- 00:02:47.583 --> 00:02:49.500 align:middle line:84% if you're not familiar with it, the two people 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:51.270 align:middle line:84% who run through it are Don Juan who 00:02:51.270 --> 00:02:56.739 align:middle line:84% is an old Yaqui Indian and this amount of knowledge. 00:02:56.739 --> 00:03:02.610 align:middle line:90% 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:08.760 align:middle line:84% He's teaching Carlos about a little-- about mescaline. 00:03:08.760 --> 00:03:14.550 align:middle line:90% About mescalito, as he calls it. 00:03:14.550 --> 00:03:15.570 align:middle line:90% But he isn't really. 00:03:15.570 --> 00:03:17.820 align:middle line:84% He's stringing Don Juan along throughout a long period 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:20.040 align:middle line:84% of time so that he can get him prepared to begin 00:03:20.040 --> 00:03:21.210 align:middle line:90% to learn about it. 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:23.700 align:middle line:84% Anyway at one point Carlos is plotting, 00:03:23.700 --> 00:03:26.903 align:middle line:84% he's an anthropology student from Berkeley. 00:03:26.903 --> 00:03:28.320 align:middle line:84% He has some saving graces which it 00:03:28.320 --> 00:03:30.930 align:middle line:84% takes a long time to perceive but which Don Juan has 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:31.920 align:middle line:90% immediately perceived. 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:34.260 align:middle line:84% And almost everyone else who reads the book 00:03:34.260 --> 00:03:36.420 align:middle line:84% goes through very frustrated with what 00:03:36.420 --> 00:03:39.720 align:middle line:84% seems to be the bull headedness on Carlos part. 00:03:39.720 --> 00:03:41.340 align:middle line:84% But he always gets there finally. 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:43.320 align:middle line:84% And in this particular case, he's 00:03:43.320 --> 00:03:46.080 align:middle line:84% been put up on top of a rock to watch for the wind at twilight 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.960 align:middle line:84% out on the desert, what he insists on calling the wind 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:51.000 align:middle line:84% and what Don Juan insists on calling the powers. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:52.708 align:middle line:84% And he stood up here for hours, you know. 00:03:52.708 --> 00:03:54.553 align:middle line:90% He got up well before twilight. 00:03:54.553 --> 00:03:56.970 align:middle line:84% And he's just standing there studying scanning the horizon 00:03:56.970 --> 00:03:57.720 align:middle line:90% and waiting. 00:03:57.720 --> 00:04:01.010 align:middle line:84% Waiting for the chaparral to blow and rattle or whatever. 00:04:01.010 --> 00:04:03.260 align:middle line:84% And every time it does, he dutifully calls to Don Juan 00:04:03.260 --> 00:04:04.927 align:middle line:84% and says you know it's right over there. 00:04:04.927 --> 00:04:07.410 align:middle line:84% And Don Juan says no, no you fool that's the wind. 00:04:07.410 --> 00:04:09.810 align:middle line:84% And so he starts and he looks around again 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:12.220 align:middle line:90% waiting for the right ripples. 00:04:12.220 --> 00:04:13.470 align:middle line:90% And he's just there for hours. 00:04:13.470 --> 00:04:16.110 align:middle line:84% And finally, Don winds down below him 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:17.910 align:middle line:84% all this whole time just paying attention. 00:04:17.910 --> 00:04:20.880 align:middle line:84% Don Juan leaps up, he has tremendous agility. 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:22.530 align:middle line:84% He leaps up and runs to this huge rock 00:04:22.530 --> 00:04:26.340 align:middle line:84% that's about 30 feet away and ducks around behind it. 00:04:26.340 --> 00:04:27.970 align:middle line:84% And Carlos thinks, oh my God there's 00:04:27.970 --> 00:04:29.220 align:middle line:90% something horrible back there. 00:04:29.220 --> 00:04:31.890 align:middle line:84% There's a spirit or a mountain lion or something. 00:04:31.890 --> 00:04:33.540 align:middle line:90% And Don Juan knows it, you know. 00:04:33.540 --> 00:04:36.150 align:middle line:84% And then Don Juan comes back from around the rock and just 00:04:36.150 --> 00:04:37.830 align:middle line:84% calm as if nothing the world has ever happened 00:04:37.830 --> 00:04:39.205 align:middle line:84% but he's just been out for a walk 00:04:39.205 --> 00:04:40.740 align:middle line:90% and is coming back from it. 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:43.560 align:middle line:84% And he says Don Juan, Don Juan, he says what did you do? 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.450 align:middle line:90% And Don Juan replies you know. 00:04:45.450 --> 00:04:48.840 align:middle line:90% 00:04:48.840 --> 00:04:51.300 align:middle line:84% He waits until he gets right up next to Carlos on the rock 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:53.280 align:middle line:90% and then he replies. 00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:56.910 align:middle line:84% There was nothing behind the rock, very loud. 00:04:56.910 --> 00:04:58.698 align:middle line:84% And Carlos is very relieved that there 00:04:58.698 --> 00:05:00.490 align:middle line:84% was nothing behind the rock on the one hand 00:05:00.490 --> 00:05:02.532 align:middle line:84% and on the other hand almost falls over backwards 00:05:02.532 --> 00:05:04.380 align:middle line:84% that Don Juan is shouting at him. 00:05:04.380 --> 00:05:07.528 align:middle line:84% And he says Don Juan, what are you doing? 00:05:07.528 --> 00:05:08.320 align:middle line:90% What are you doing? 00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:10.897 align:middle line:84% And Don Juan says, I'm not doing anything. 00:05:10.897 --> 00:05:12.480 align:middle line:84% And then proceeded to do a whole bunch 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.030 align:middle line:84% of really weird antics standing on his head and cartwheeling 00:05:15.030 --> 00:05:15.530 align:middle line:90% and whatnot. 00:05:15.530 --> 00:05:18.270 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:18.270 --> 00:05:20.190 align:middle line:84% And Carlos was getting quite upset. 00:05:20.190 --> 00:05:21.860 align:middle line:84% And finally he jumped down off the rock 00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:22.860 align:middle line:90% and he grabbed Don Juan. 00:05:22.860 --> 00:05:25.020 align:middle line:84% He shook him and says, what are you doing? 00:05:25.020 --> 00:05:26.550 align:middle line:84% He says, you're driving me crazy. 00:05:26.550 --> 00:05:28.170 align:middle line:84% You're behaving so unpredictably. 00:05:28.170 --> 00:05:30.420 align:middle line:84% That's the kind of language that Carlos would use too, 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:32.520 align:middle line:84% you're behaving so unpredictably. 00:05:32.520 --> 00:05:35.970 align:middle line:84% And immediately Don Juan caught him dead in the eye 00:05:35.970 --> 00:05:38.698 align:middle line:84% and said you've been driving me crazy with how 00:05:38.698 --> 00:05:39.990 align:middle line:90% predictable you've been acting. 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:44.173 align:middle line:90% 00:05:44.173 --> 00:05:45.090 align:middle line:90% And then they proceed. 00:05:45.090 --> 00:05:48.100 align:middle line:90% 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:50.590 align:middle line:84% "This morning when I had to kill a mouse 00:05:50.590 --> 00:05:53.560 align:middle line:84% to free it from my trap, I remembered 00:05:53.560 --> 00:05:56.560 align:middle line:84% the rats gnawed fore leg my father made me see. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:00.580 align:middle line:84% The sheer bone protruding from a thin clenched bar. 00:06:00.580 --> 00:06:03.310 align:middle line:84% And this was our secret, father's and mine 00:06:03.310 --> 00:06:07.360 align:middle line:84% kept from mother safe in her kitchen for years. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.430 align:middle line:84% When he died at the verge of my manhood, 00:06:09.430 --> 00:06:12.070 align:middle line:90% she fled north with me. 00:06:12.070 --> 00:06:15.580 align:middle line:84% There I learned the seasons in a long, strange year. 00:06:15.580 --> 00:06:19.030 align:middle line:84% I saw the crippled trees crumble into colors, 00:06:19.030 --> 00:06:20.980 align:middle line:84% shedding their brilliant disease of leaves 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:23.470 align:middle line:84% that left the branches dead and trembling 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:27.790 align:middle line:84% in the snow white wind, magical and stark between street lamps 00:06:27.790 --> 00:06:29.980 align:middle line:90% and starlight. 00:06:29.980 --> 00:06:35.170 align:middle line:84% I learned to set out traps for muskrats, mink, and rabbits. 00:06:35.170 --> 00:06:37.690 align:middle line:84% And each dawn of the long first winter 00:06:37.690 --> 00:06:40.330 align:middle line:84% silent in the moonlight I hiked through 00:06:40.330 --> 00:06:42.850 align:middle line:84% the frost bright dreamlike sleeping trees 00:06:42.850 --> 00:06:47.050 align:middle line:84% that jutted like black bone from wounded snow. 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:49.270 align:middle line:84% Alone among the creatured drifts and banks 00:06:49.270 --> 00:06:51.460 align:middle line:84% that piled up in the months between my father's 00:06:51.460 --> 00:06:54.250 align:middle line:90% death and my own beating flesh. 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.880 align:middle line:84% I was fearful and desirous of the gray silent wolves, 00:06:57.880 --> 00:07:03.790 align:middle line:84% a crushed thing's single shriek could summon from the dark. 00:07:03.790 --> 00:07:06.370 align:middle line:84% With my strong Confederate bayonet, 00:07:06.370 --> 00:07:09.160 align:middle line:84% I'd pry slick frozen steel apart, 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.280 align:middle line:84% freeing stiff legs severed in my traps. 00:07:12.280 --> 00:07:16.420 align:middle line:90% Now and then, a worthless skin. 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:19.610 align:middle line:84% One morning early in the wind and while the blowing moon 00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:24.370 align:middle line:84% still wobbled jostling the dark fixed chunks of night, 00:07:24.370 --> 00:07:28.450 align:middle line:84% I heard a chain snap tight then beating wings. 00:07:28.450 --> 00:07:32.500 align:middle line:84% Something white was fumbling at the base of the trees. 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:36.310 align:middle line:84% Like snow rising from snow, a silver fox 00:07:36.310 --> 00:07:42.160 align:middle line:84% locked in its talons, the great white owl rose then fell, 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.610 align:middle line:84% dragged back by the trapped weight. 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:48.550 align:middle line:84% Dazzled by the brightening air, its lunar eyes 00:07:48.550 --> 00:07:51.010 align:middle line:84% blazed in their mask of blind snow 00:07:51.010 --> 00:07:55.750 align:middle line:84% as I tripped on ice, reared to meet its stare. 00:07:55.750 --> 00:07:59.870 align:middle line:90% It challenged, I froze. 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:03.230 align:middle line:84% It's white breast was wide with the heavy wings of a warrior 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:04.490 align:middle line:90% angel. 00:08:04.490 --> 00:08:07.340 align:middle line:84% It dipped the hook of its beak in slow deliberation 00:08:07.340 --> 00:08:10.100 align:middle line:84% and stole a vivid eye from the skull 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:13.730 align:middle line:90% then turned to me, impatient. 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.380 align:middle line:84% In an outburst of brilliance, it battered up out of the snow 00:08:18.380 --> 00:08:20.720 align:middle line:90% blindly clumsy at first. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.530 align:middle line:84% Then transfigured by the highlight of a scent 00:08:24.530 --> 00:08:29.630 align:middle line:84% a glide and glowing in the pale soaring sky. 00:08:29.630 --> 00:08:33.350 align:middle line:84% Wet blood bright in the decomposing snow, 00:08:33.350 --> 00:08:37.490 align:middle line:84% wound in a desperate circle of struggle, round and round 00:08:37.490 --> 00:08:41.150 align:middle line:84% the strict radius of the staked chain. 00:08:41.150 --> 00:08:44.660 align:middle line:84% All around me the horizon tensed for dawn, 00:08:44.660 --> 00:08:46.692 align:middle line:84% encircling my vision with the limits of a saw 00:08:46.692 --> 00:08:49.970 align:middle line:84% toothed land sharp against the sky. 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:52.190 align:middle line:84% And from this trap's dead center, 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:55.010 align:middle line:84% I looked up at the fatal stars so innocent 00:08:55.010 --> 00:08:58.205 align:middle line:84% in a slow prison of seasons and hours. 00:08:58.205 --> 00:09:00.900 align:middle line:90% 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:04.260 align:middle line:84% This morning when I sent my wife and daughter from the room, 00:09:04.260 --> 00:09:08.940 align:middle line:84% they fled as if to witness death were death itself. 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:11.160 align:middle line:90% Am I to die? 00:09:11.160 --> 00:09:14.250 align:middle line:84% This accusation and their fear has followed me 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:18.000 align:middle line:84% until I feel as if my own is the small nodding skull 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.880 align:middle line:84% I've crushed and mine, the one bright eye 00:09:20.880 --> 00:09:23.670 align:middle line:90% staring from its ruin. 00:09:23.670 --> 00:09:28.600 align:middle line:84% So I am the child again facing your calendar, 00:09:28.600 --> 00:09:33.690 align:middle line:84% knowing this time you must die, your face pass into my face, 00:09:33.690 --> 00:09:36.390 align:middle line:90% mine into others. 00:09:36.390 --> 00:09:40.560 align:middle line:90% What shall I tell them, father? 00:09:40.560 --> 00:09:43.290 align:middle line:84% What can we tell to these strangers 00:09:43.290 --> 00:09:45.030 align:middle line:90% we've made from our love. 00:09:45.030 --> 00:09:47.630 align:middle line:90% 00:09:47.630 --> 00:09:52.280 align:middle line:84% Somewhere in the belly of the owl and the Earth 00:09:52.280 --> 00:09:58.360 align:middle line:84% we all stare incessantly from darkness to darkness soaring." 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:01.000 align:middle line:90%