WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.130 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.130 --> 00:00:04.530 align:middle line:84%
When I was reading
this, there was

00:00:04.530 --> 00:00:06.450 align:middle line:84%
kind of a tantalizing
thought that

00:00:06.450 --> 00:00:09.420 align:middle line:84%
came to me, that
hadn't ever surfaced

00:00:09.420 --> 00:00:12.090 align:middle line:90%
in the presence of this before.

00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:20.250 align:middle line:84%
And that is, maybe
the way we feel

00:00:20.250 --> 00:00:26.340 align:middle line:84%
depends on the little elements,
ingredients of experience

00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:30.630 align:middle line:84%
rather than on the big things
that we ordinarily identify.

00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:34.530 align:middle line:84%
So that an elegy, I have
thought of this before,

00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:36.150 align:middle line:90%
but not in connection with this.

00:00:36.150 --> 00:00:39.870 align:middle line:84%
An elegy would
have power over us,

00:00:39.870 --> 00:00:44.490 align:middle line:84%
not because it's about
a death, but because all

00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:46.410 align:middle line:84%
the little figures
and things that you

00:00:46.410 --> 00:00:50.920 align:middle line:90%
say in it are little deaths.

00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:56.280 align:middle line:84%
And if a big death were
associated with other things,

00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:58.050 align:middle line:90%
it wouldn't even be sad.

00:00:58.050 --> 00:01:01.530 align:middle line:84%
So that what the
poem says at you

00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.110 align:middle line:84%
and you say, oh, well,
those are figures of speech

00:01:04.110 --> 00:01:06.960 align:middle line:84%
for the big thing that it's
about, what it's telling you

00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:09.450 align:middle line:90%
is exactly what it's about.

00:01:09.450 --> 00:01:13.800 align:middle line:84%
And the big event gets
its emotional tonality

00:01:13.800 --> 00:01:15.630 align:middle line:90%
from all those little things.

00:01:15.630 --> 00:01:17.580 align:middle line:84%
I don't think I've
said this right,

00:01:17.580 --> 00:01:21.630 align:middle line:84%
but well, I want
to read something

00:01:21.630 --> 00:01:27.010 align:middle line:84%
that has a connection
with part of my career,

00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:31.050 align:middle line:84%
not touched upon in
the introduction.

00:01:31.050 --> 00:01:36.330 align:middle line:84%
There were honorific things
said, but in my past,

00:01:36.330 --> 00:01:38.010 align:middle line:90%
I taught in California.

00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:40.910 align:middle line:90%


00:01:40.910 --> 00:01:49.550 align:middle line:84%
With this confession, I read my
poem, "The Star in the Hills."

00:01:49.550 --> 00:01:52.280 align:middle line:84%
A star hitting the
hills behind our house,

00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:56.690 align:middle line:84%
up where the grass turned
brown, touching the sky.

00:01:56.690 --> 00:01:59.030 align:middle line:84%
Meteors have hit
the world before,

00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:02.720 align:middle line:90%
but this was near, and since TV.

00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:06.720 align:middle line:84%
Few saw, but many
felt the shock.

00:02:06.720 --> 00:02:09.380 align:middle line:84%
The State of California
owns that land.

00:02:09.380 --> 00:02:11.780 align:middle line:90%
And out from shore, three miles.

00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.480 align:middle line:84%
And any stars that
come, will be roped off

00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:18.110 align:middle line:90%
and viewed on weekdays 8 to 5.

00:02:18.110 --> 00:02:20.120 align:middle line:84%
A guard who took
the oath of loyalty

00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:23.010 align:middle line:84%
and denied any police
record told me this.

00:02:23.010 --> 00:02:25.400 align:middle line:84%
If you don't have a
police record yet,

00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:28.340 align:middle line:84%
you could take the oath
and get a job if California

00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:31.100 align:middle line:90%
should be hit by another star.

00:02:31.100 --> 00:02:34.160 align:middle line:84%
I'd promise to be
loyal to California,

00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:37.190 align:middle line:84%
and to guard any stars
that hit it, I said.

00:02:37.190 --> 00:02:39.860 align:middle line:84%
Or any place three
miles out from shore.

00:02:39.860 --> 00:02:42.830 align:middle line:84%
Unless the star was bigger
than the state, in which case,

00:02:42.830 --> 00:02:43.940 align:middle line:90%
I'd be loyal to it.

00:02:43.940 --> 00:02:45.950 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:02:45.950 --> 00:02:49.160 align:middle line:84%
But he said, no
exceptions were allowed.

00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:52.730 align:middle line:84%
And he leaned against that
state owned meteor, so calm,

00:02:52.730 --> 00:02:54.710 align:middle line:90%
puffed a cork tipped cigarette.

00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:57.785 align:middle line:84%
That I looked down and traced
with my foot in the dust,

00:02:57.785 --> 00:03:02.225 align:middle line:84%
and thought again and
said, OK, any star.

00:03:02.225 --> 00:03:05.366 align:middle line:90%


00:03:05.366 --> 00:03:09.660 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:03:09.660 --> 00:03:11.450 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.