WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.620 --> 00:00:05.450 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read a few poems that 00:00:05.450 --> 00:00:09.220 align:middle line:90% are, maybe, in that spirit. 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.155 align:middle line:84% The first poem I'm going to read-- 00:00:11.155 --> 00:00:13.940 align:middle line:90% 00:00:13.940 --> 00:00:16.850 align:middle line:84% it's a hard thing to think about which 00:00:16.850 --> 00:00:19.700 align:middle line:84% of the people in our current government is the worst. 00:00:19.700 --> 00:00:20.810 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:20.810 --> 00:00:23.390 align:middle line:84% It's quite a task once you start thinking. 00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:27.430 align:middle line:84% They've all got their demerits, for sure. 00:00:27.430 --> 00:00:30.280 align:middle line:84% And they all seem to lower themselves to the occasion, 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:30.790 align:middle line:90% in turn. 00:00:30.790 --> 00:00:33.187 align:middle line:84% So every day, you can convince yourself 00:00:33.187 --> 00:00:34.270 align:middle line:90% that somebody's the worst. 00:00:34.270 --> 00:00:36.353 align:middle line:84% I mean, Trump doesn't count because you 00:00:36.353 --> 00:00:38.020 align:middle line:84% have to be a human being to be eligible. 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:38.520 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:43.240 align:middle line:84% But in this case, I think, for me, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:47.260 align:middle line:84% the person who really is, consistently, the most odious-- 00:00:47.260 --> 00:00:49.840 align:middle line:84% although his effectiveness has been lessened somewhat-- 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.030 align:middle line:90% is Paul Ryan. 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:54.910 align:middle line:84% I find him just creepy beyond belief. 00:00:54.910 --> 00:00:57.520 align:middle line:84% And so there were times when I was writing 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:03.310 align:middle line:84% this book when I felt very angry like I'm sure a lot of us have. 00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:04.810 align:middle line:84% I'm making all kinds of presumptions 00:01:04.810 --> 00:01:06.940 align:middle line:84% about the politics of the people in this room, 00:01:06.940 --> 00:01:08.960 align:middle line:84% and I do not ask for forgiveness for that. 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:09.460 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:09.460 --> 00:01:14.460 align:middle line:84% But, anyway, I was interested in what 00:01:14.460 --> 00:01:19.220 align:middle line:84% would happen if I let that anger direct me into poetry. 00:01:19.220 --> 00:01:20.720 align:middle line:84% Anger is not an emotion I ordinarily 00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:23.540 align:middle line:84% associate with poetry, or good poetry, 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:27.230 align:middle line:84% but there are exceptions in my own poems, for sure. 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:30.920 align:middle line:84% And so I was like, what would happen if I just let my fury 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.190 align:middle line:84% and my aggravation just direct the poem 00:01:34.190 --> 00:01:36.980 align:middle line:90% and then almost exhaust itself. 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:37.850 align:middle line:90% What would happen? 00:01:37.850 --> 00:01:42.290 align:middle line:84% So that's this poem, which I will read to you now. 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:44.014 align:middle line:90% "Paul Ryan." 00:01:44.014 --> 00:01:44.870 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:44.870 --> 00:01:49.430 align:middle line:84% "Paul Ryan, your name so perfectly combines 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:54.260 align:middle line:84% New Testament, righteous purity with American, white, immigrant 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:55.670 align:middle line:90% self-pity. 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:59.090 align:middle line:84% It must have been invented in some brushed, metallic 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:02.390 align:middle line:84% building, the exact color of despair. 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:05.630 align:middle line:84% You could walk right past and never see. 00:02:05.630 --> 00:02:09.860 align:middle line:84% Where sad ghosts think all day about the most efficient way 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:11.600 align:middle line:90% to eat light. 00:02:11.600 --> 00:02:13.490 align:middle line:90% They know we need it. 00:02:13.490 --> 00:02:18.140 align:middle line:84% It could be used to power every black box, every machine. 00:02:18.140 --> 00:02:21.770 align:middle line:84% The ghosts don't want to eat the light but they must. 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:24.680 align:middle line:90% They work for immense demons. 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:27.350 align:middle line:90% Paul Ryan, you do too. 00:02:27.350 --> 00:02:31.760 align:middle line:84% Many years ago, they filled you with the carefully harvested 00:02:31.760 --> 00:02:35.930 align:middle line:84% breath of emptied factories then grew your house. 00:02:35.930 --> 00:02:39.560 align:middle line:84% Its pretend love and grim commotion, 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.770 align:middle line:84% and the slow, imperceptible, drip of ideology, 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:45.920 align:middle line:84% contaminated your blood, until you actually 00:02:45.920 --> 00:02:49.230 align:middle line:84% thought your struggles and success were real. 00:02:49.230 --> 00:02:51.860 align:middle line:84% So your job was to put on your red hat, 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:57.110 align:middle line:84% and go into the world to tell us what is, by nature, just. 00:02:57.110 --> 00:02:59.690 align:middle line:90% And only vast forces are real. 00:02:59.690 --> 00:03:02.420 align:middle line:84% And even a slight compassion flicker 00:03:02.420 --> 00:03:06.330 align:middle line:84% is just a selfish desire to seem unselfish. 00:03:06.330 --> 00:03:08.010 align:middle line:90% And maybe you're right. 00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:10.470 align:middle line:90% There can be no more pure water. 00:03:10.470 --> 00:03:14.820 align:middle line:84% We are defeated and must accept immortal drought. 00:03:14.820 --> 00:03:16.440 align:middle line:90% But I don't know. 00:03:16.440 --> 00:03:19.350 align:middle line:84% It seems, to me, the dark triumph, 00:03:19.350 --> 00:03:23.430 align:middle line:84% that animates your tragic corpse, drinks hate. 00:03:23.430 --> 00:03:25.320 align:middle line:90% So I will not drink it. 00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:27.600 align:middle line:90% Paul Ryan, I love you. 00:03:27.600 --> 00:03:31.220 align:middle line:84% I kiss your dry lips to defeat you.