WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.570 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.570 --> 00:00:07.086 align:middle line:84%
This is another poem about
drought, called "Drought."

00:00:07.086 --> 00:00:11.010 align:middle line:90%


00:00:11.010 --> 00:00:17.130 align:middle line:84%
The approach to the dryness is
from a little different angle

00:00:17.130 --> 00:00:19.830 align:middle line:90%
here.

00:00:19.830 --> 00:00:24.160 align:middle line:84%
Simply a series of fairly
specific and rather exaggerated

00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:24.660 align:middle line:90%
images.

00:00:24.660 --> 00:00:28.520 align:middle line:90%


00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:31.220 align:middle line:90%
"Drought."

00:00:31.220 --> 00:00:33.860 align:middle line:84%
"Nobody wears
clothes anymore, not

00:00:33.860 --> 00:00:37.310 align:middle line:90%
even the local virgin scarecrow.

00:00:37.310 --> 00:00:39.410 align:middle line:84%
The mannequins in
all the storefronts

00:00:39.410 --> 00:00:44.510 align:middle line:84%
have dropped their drawers
like so many hot potatoes.

00:00:44.510 --> 00:00:49.280 align:middle line:84%
One goat and three medium
sized children have so far

00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.740 align:middle line:84%
disappeared down a
split in the ground

00:00:51.740 --> 00:00:54.920 align:middle line:90%
behind the Champlin Station.

00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:57.680 align:middle line:84%
Between two upright
posts, the length

00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:01.370 align:middle line:84%
of number nine wire whines
like a Baptist prayer

00:01:01.370 --> 00:01:02.750 align:middle line:90%
in a depraved wind.

00:01:02.750 --> 00:01:05.300 align:middle line:90%


00:01:05.300 --> 00:01:08.540 align:middle line:84%
Ham and eggs for half
price, fresh off the cement

00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:12.200 align:middle line:90%
grill in front of Rocky's Cafe.

00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:15.200 align:middle line:84%
For one thin dime, you
can earn the privilege

00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:20.900 align:middle line:84%
of watching Roy Duncan start
a fire with his fingers.

00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:23.930 align:middle line:84%
Boll weevils gather
like flies wherever

00:01:23.930 --> 00:01:28.130 align:middle line:90%
Vernon Ryan elects to spit.

00:01:28.130 --> 00:01:30.320 align:middle line:84%
Even the preacher's
mistress has given up

00:01:30.320 --> 00:01:33.230 align:middle line:84%
the show, her high
heels arrested

00:01:33.230 --> 00:01:36.410 align:middle line:84%
in the pitch of the pavement,
her lipstick running

00:01:36.410 --> 00:01:40.940 align:middle line:84%
like chokecherry down
the cleft of her chin.

00:01:40.940 --> 00:01:42.860 align:middle line:90%
It's no use.

00:01:42.860 --> 00:01:48.410 align:middle line:84%
Hell has moved her headquarters
into southeastern Nebraska.

00:01:48.410 --> 00:01:52.010 align:middle line:84%
Far into the night,
the last of the dogs

00:01:52.010 --> 00:01:56.960 align:middle line:84%
keeps everyone in town awake
with its decision not to bark."

00:01:56.960 --> 00:01:59.660 align:middle line:90%


00:01:59.660 --> 00:02:02.710 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:02.710 --> 00:02:06.000 align:middle line:90%