WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.810 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:03.150 align:middle line:84% Several weeks ago, the University of Nebraska 00:00:03.150 --> 00:00:06.240 align:middle line:84% extension center called me and asked me if for $50 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.250 align:middle line:84% I would write a poem for them that 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:12.900 align:middle line:90% ran no longer than 12 lines. 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:15.030 align:middle line:90% And I said, well, I might. 00:00:15.030 --> 00:00:17.850 align:middle line:84% I didn't want them to get the notion that I could 00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:19.200 align:middle line:90% be bought that easily though. 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:20.460 align:middle line:90% I, of course, can. 00:00:20.460 --> 00:00:24.150 align:middle line:90% 00:00:24.150 --> 00:00:27.720 align:middle line:84% So I held out and I said, could you 00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:29.880 align:middle line:84% describe to me a little bit what you want it for 00:00:29.880 --> 00:00:35.220 align:middle line:84% and what you'd like besides fewer than 12 lines? 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:38.430 align:middle line:84% They said, what we'd like to use it on a textbook, the poetry 00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:42.960 align:middle line:84% textbook that will be sent to all the high schools 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.480 align:middle line:90% in the United States. 00:00:45.480 --> 00:00:46.665 align:middle line:90% And I said, wow. 00:00:46.665 --> 00:00:49.980 align:middle line:90% 00:00:49.980 --> 00:00:53.310 align:middle line:84% He said, we'll put a little drawing 00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:56.490 align:middle line:90% on the cover with your poem. 00:00:56.490 --> 00:00:59.820 align:middle line:90% I said, that'd be real good. 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:02.310 align:middle line:84% They said, we'd like to have the poem narrative. 00:01:02.310 --> 00:01:07.040 align:middle line:90% 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:08.300 align:middle line:90% And I said, that's all right. 00:01:08.300 --> 00:01:09.560 align:middle line:90% I like narrative poems. 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:13.640 align:middle line:90% 00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:16.340 align:middle line:84% And he said, we'd also like for the details 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:17.345 align:middle line:90% to be fairly specific. 00:01:17.345 --> 00:01:20.180 align:middle line:90% 00:01:20.180 --> 00:01:23.720 align:middle line:90% And I said, I like that. 00:01:23.720 --> 00:01:25.040 align:middle line:90% I like poems that are rooted. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.100 align:middle line:90% 00:01:28.100 --> 00:01:31.760 align:middle line:84% And he said, we don't want it to be simple though. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:33.740 align:middle line:84% I said, no, I don't like simple poems. 00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:39.020 align:middle line:90% 00:01:39.020 --> 00:01:42.620 align:middle line:84% And after the laying down of all the rules, I couldn't resist. 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:46.580 align:middle line:84% It seemed impossible, especially the final request 00:01:46.580 --> 00:01:49.400 align:middle line:84% that it not offend any high school parent. 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:52.368 align:middle line:90% 00:01:52.368 --> 00:01:54.410 align:middle line:84% That, of course, was the clincher when he told me 00:01:54.410 --> 00:01:57.110 align:middle line:90% that I could not resist. 00:01:57.110 --> 00:01:59.600 align:middle line:84% I also discovered that when I deliberately set out 00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:04.760 align:middle line:84% to write a 12 liner, I couldn't do it. 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.280 align:middle line:90% I wrote many long poems. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:08.449 align:middle line:90% The deadline drew near. 00:02:08.449 --> 00:02:11.074 align:middle line:84% I had promised this fellow that I would send him at least four. 00:02:11.074 --> 00:02:13.860 align:middle line:90% 00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:16.350 align:middle line:84% So finally, right on the edge of the deadline, 00:02:16.350 --> 00:02:17.730 align:middle line:90% I sent him the four poems. 00:02:17.730 --> 00:02:19.545 align:middle line:84% The shortest one of which was 20 lines. 00:02:19.545 --> 00:02:22.090 align:middle line:90% 00:02:22.090 --> 00:02:23.620 align:middle line:90% Figuring that I had spoiled it. 00:02:23.620 --> 00:02:25.060 align:middle line:84% But I had promised him something. 00:02:25.060 --> 00:02:26.080 align:middle line:90% So I sent them. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:29.170 align:middle line:90% And they used the tow liner. 00:02:29.170 --> 00:02:31.270 align:middle line:84% So with that in mind, here's the poem. 00:02:31.270 --> 00:02:34.090 align:middle line:84% I have no idea, whether it works. 00:02:34.090 --> 00:02:35.530 align:middle line:90% It's called Unplanting The Tree. 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:38.080 align:middle line:90% 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:41.800 align:middle line:84% I climb to the top of a full blown hickory 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:44.860 align:middle line:84% to whisper the secret into the veins 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:48.400 align:middle line:90% of the most inaccessible leaf. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:52.300 align:middle line:90% The leaf convinced passes it on. 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.540 align:middle line:84% And by the time I returned to the ground, already 00:02:55.540 --> 00:03:00.220 align:middle line:90% the tree is growing slowly down. 00:03:00.220 --> 00:03:05.110 align:middle line:84% I sit on the porch watching the leaves flicker, breakaway, 00:03:05.110 --> 00:03:09.550 align:middle line:84% fall, loose substance, disappear. 00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:12.550 align:middle line:84% By evening, the bark is smooth and green, 00:03:12.550 --> 00:03:17.350 align:middle line:84% the limbs no more than switches in the wind. 00:03:17.350 --> 00:03:20.410 align:middle line:84% In darkness, then the roots rise. 00:03:20.410 --> 00:03:24.880 align:middle line:84% In moonlight, wash themselves to seed. 00:03:24.880 --> 00:03:30.040 align:middle line:84% In time, in time, all in good time. 00:03:30.040 --> 00:03:34.630 align:middle line:84% Dawn finds us restless in the soil wild 00:03:34.630 --> 00:03:37.570 align:middle line:84% in our little wreckages to live again. 00:03:37.570 --> 00:03:44.770 align:middle line:90% 00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:47.080 align:middle line:84% I hope no irate high school parent 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:49.830 align:middle line:90% comes after me with a 12 gauge. 00:03:49.830 --> 00:03:51.000 align:middle line:90%