WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.740 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.740 --> 00:00:09.420 align:middle line:84% I find it more than troubling that we're back again at this, 00:00:09.420 --> 00:00:12.190 align:middle line:84% but I think it's like all things that are really important. 00:00:12.190 --> 00:00:14.760 align:middle line:84% There are small ways that you change them. 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:18.600 align:middle line:84% One thing you do, if somebody talks about how rape is funny, 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.700 align:middle line:90% you say, no, it isn't. 00:00:20.700 --> 00:00:26.310 align:middle line:84% That's the start of a conversation that you can have. 00:00:26.310 --> 00:00:28.500 align:middle line:84% Or at least it locates you, and the person 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.680 align:middle line:84% knows not to be an idiot in your presence, you know? 00:00:31.680 --> 00:00:36.090 align:middle line:90% 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:38.350 align:middle line:84% One of my favorite athletes is Greg Louganis. 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:39.360 align:middle line:90% You remember him? 00:00:39.360 --> 00:00:44.820 align:middle line:84% He competed in the Olympics in the diving competition, 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:47.550 align:middle line:84% and he was a winner of so many gold medals. 00:00:47.550 --> 00:00:50.430 align:middle line:84% It's almost impossible to tally it up. 00:00:50.430 --> 00:00:56.560 align:middle line:84% He's just an amazing athlete, so I wrote a poem for him. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:02.280 align:middle line:84% Praxiteles is a very famous sculptor 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:04.590 align:middle line:84% of the great classical period, and he 00:01:04.590 --> 00:01:09.420 align:middle line:84% did many statues of what we now see as depictions 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:11.530 align:middle line:90% of old-time Olympic athletes. 00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:14.370 align:middle line:84% So I'm using his name in this poem. 00:01:14.370 --> 00:01:17.310 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:20.460 align:middle line:84% "If Praxiteles had been an animator, 00:01:20.460 --> 00:01:25.140 align:middle line:84% this form is the one he would have set in motion-- 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:29.280 align:middle line:84% a spinning diver hurtling down toward the surface 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:34.290 align:middle line:84% of a pool, its smooth skin raised to ripples 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:37.230 align:middle line:90% by an automatic wind machine. 00:01:37.230 --> 00:01:41.460 align:middle line:84% He'd sculpt Louganis like a beautiful machine poised 00:01:41.460 --> 00:01:46.530 align:middle line:84% against the cloudless sky, then charge his form with action-- 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:48.930 align:middle line:84% the rippling muscles of the torso 00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:53.400 align:middle line:84% tensing with explosive motion as the diver vaults, 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.790 align:middle line:84% kicks out, and plunges into the pool 00:01:56.790 --> 00:02:02.640 align:middle line:84% where cameras follow him down, a sheath of bubbles wrapping him, 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:07.410 align:middle line:84% down where applause is a watery blur, the machine of celebrity 00:02:07.410 --> 00:02:12.450 align:middle line:84% waiting above him, the press pool eager to surround, 00:02:12.450 --> 00:02:14.100 align:middle line:90% touch his form-- 00:02:14.100 --> 00:02:19.140 align:middle line:84% a boy-god, perfect in stasis or motion, 00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:22.230 align:middle line:84% an athlete who could ignite any crowd, 00:02:22.230 --> 00:02:26.760 align:middle line:84% send ripples of excitement around an arena, ripples of awe 00:02:26.760 --> 00:02:32.790 align:middle line:84% around the globe, even after he stepped down from competition. 00:02:32.790 --> 00:02:39.090 align:middle line:84% I saw him once, pure emotion in a dog show ring, his Great Dane 00:02:39.090 --> 00:02:43.290 align:middle line:84% puppy not yet machined into perfection. 00:02:43.290 --> 00:02:49.050 align:middle line:84% Greg was the one all form, perfectly balanced on his toes, 00:02:49.050 --> 00:02:54.180 align:middle line:84% emerging from a pool of dog handlers as the star. 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:57.450 align:middle line:84% Outside a swimming pool, nobody recognized him at first, 00:02:57.450 --> 00:03:00.330 align:middle line:84% but ripples of applause picked up, 00:03:00.330 --> 00:03:04.800 align:middle line:84% formed a little cup of sound, then settled down again 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:11.820 align:middle line:84% as he was just one of us, a guy and his dog in motion. 00:03:11.820 --> 00:03:18.180 align:middle line:84% No machine of glory, just a guy and his dog in motion. 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:23.400 align:middle line:84% That was before rumors of HIV set chaos in motion and sports 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:29.580 align:middle line:84% shows ran films of his infected blood coloring the pool. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:33.300 align:middle line:84% Predictably, the story fed into the tabloid machine, 00:03:33.300 --> 00:03:35.970 align:middle line:84% and the customary scornful ripple 00:03:35.970 --> 00:03:39.020 align:middle line:84% of reaction to anybody gay threatened 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:42.930 align:middle line:84% to drive his name down from Olympus. 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:48.360 align:middle line:84% But no bigotry could change the form of his achievement. 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:53.160 align:middle line:84% No machine of hate or ripple of fear for his life 00:03:53.160 --> 00:03:57.630 align:middle line:84% could alter the timeless motion into a pool 00:03:57.630 --> 00:04:02.595 align:middle line:84% of a beautiful boy falling down from heaven into perfect form." 00:04:02.595 --> 00:04:07.090 align:middle line:90% 00:04:07.090 --> 00:04:14.380 align:middle line:84% For those who are fans of form, that was a sestina in case 00:04:14.380 --> 00:04:17.859 align:middle line:84% you were checking to see if I knew anything about form. 00:04:17.859 --> 00:04:22.250 align:middle line:90% 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:22.750 align:middle line:90% It's funny. 00:04:22.750 --> 00:04:24.970 align:middle line:84% I sent this poem to a friend of mine. 00:04:24.970 --> 00:04:28.240 align:middle line:84% He was actually the editor of my first book. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.390 align:middle line:84% His name is Jim Krusoe, and you might know him 00:04:31.390 --> 00:04:36.220 align:middle line:84% as a kind of slightly deranged writer of fiction. 00:04:36.220 --> 00:04:38.770 align:middle line:84% And he sent it back, and he said, I really like this poem. 00:04:38.770 --> 00:04:42.990 align:middle line:84% But you're repeating some words a little too often. 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:45.930 align:middle line:84% So I wrote him back, and I said, Jim, it's a sestina. 00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:49.620 align:middle line:84% And he was so embarrassed, he could barely contain himself. 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:55.010 align:middle line:84% But I thought it was good because it was disguised. 00:04:55.010 --> 00:04:56.000 align:middle line:90%