WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.900 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:05.220 align:middle line:84%
Some poems derive their
sense of themselves

00:00:05.220 --> 00:00:08.220 align:middle line:84%
as poems in opposition to
what poems should sound like.

00:00:08.220 --> 00:00:10.410 align:middle line:84%
They're anti-poetic
in some sense,

00:00:10.410 --> 00:00:16.350 align:middle line:84%
and this poem
probably is that way.

00:00:16.350 --> 00:00:18.180 align:middle line:84%
It's titled "To No
One in Particular."

00:00:18.180 --> 00:00:21.280 align:middle line:90%


00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:25.870 align:middle line:84%
"Whether you sing or scream,
the process is the same.

00:00:25.870 --> 00:00:29.070 align:middle line:84%
You start inside yourself,
a small explosion.

00:00:29.070 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:84%
The difference being
that in the scream,

00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:34.650 align:middle line:84%
the throat is squeezed so
that the back of the tongue

00:00:34.650 --> 00:00:37.260 align:middle line:90%
can taste the brain's fear.

00:00:37.260 --> 00:00:41.610 align:middle line:84%
Also, spittle and phlegm are
components of the instrument.

00:00:41.610 --> 00:00:44.670 align:middle line:84%
I guess it would be possible
to take someone by the throat

00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:47.070 align:middle line:90%
and give him a good beating.

00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:49.500 align:middle line:84%
All the while though, some
fool would be writing down

00:00:49.500 --> 00:00:51.750 align:middle line:84%
the notes of the
victim, underscoring

00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:56.160 align:middle line:84%
this phrase, lightning this one,
adding a grace note and a trill

00:00:56.160 --> 00:00:59.490 align:middle line:84%
and instructions in one
of those languages revered

00:00:59.490 --> 00:01:01.860 align:middle line:90%
for its vowels.

00:01:01.860 --> 00:01:03.870 align:middle line:84%
But all the time,
it's consonants

00:01:03.870 --> 00:01:05.970 align:middle line:90%
coming from the throat.

00:01:05.970 --> 00:01:07.860 align:middle line:84%
Here's the one you
were throttling, still

00:01:07.860 --> 00:01:12.330 align:middle line:84%
gagging at the guttural C-H,
the throat-clearing Yiddish C-H,

00:01:12.330 --> 00:01:15.160 align:middle line:84%
and other consonants
spurned by opera singers

00:01:15.160 --> 00:01:16.035 align:middle line:90%
and English teachers.

00:01:16.035 --> 00:01:19.420 align:middle line:90%


00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:21.330 align:middle line:90%
He won't bother you again.

00:01:21.330 --> 00:01:24.450 align:middle line:84%
He'll scrape home to take it
out on his wife, more bestial

00:01:24.450 --> 00:01:27.060 align:middle line:84%
consonants rising in
pitch until spent.

00:01:27.060 --> 00:01:29.460 align:middle line:84%
Then he'll lock a leg
over her and snore,

00:01:29.460 --> 00:01:31.830 align:middle line:84%
and all the time he
hasn't said a word

00:01:31.830 --> 00:01:37.200 align:middle line:84%
we can repeat, even though
we all speak his language,

00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:39.810 align:middle line:84%
even though the toast in
our throats in the morning

00:01:39.810 --> 00:01:43.350 align:middle line:84%
has a word for us, not at
all like bread and rain.

00:01:43.350 --> 00:01:45.360 align:middle line:84%
But something
grittier and something

00:01:45.360 --> 00:01:48.210 align:middle line:84%
thicker, going
through what we are.

00:01:48.210 --> 00:01:49.920 align:middle line:84%
Even though we
snort and sniffle,

00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:52.800 align:middle line:84%
cough, hiccup, cry,
and come, and laugh

00:01:52.800 --> 00:01:55.110 align:middle line:90%
until our stomachs turn.

00:01:55.110 --> 00:01:57.570 align:middle line:84%
Who will write
down this language?

00:01:57.570 --> 00:01:59.970 align:middle line:90%
Who will do the work necessary?

00:01:59.970 --> 00:02:03.570 align:middle line:84%
Who will gag on a chicken
bone for observation?

00:02:03.570 --> 00:02:07.020 align:middle line:84%
Who will breathe
perfectly underwater?

00:02:07.020 --> 00:02:09.930 align:middle line:84%
Whose slow murder will
disprove for all time

00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:13.680 align:middle line:90%
an alphabet meant to make sense?

00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:15.120 align:middle line:90%
Listen.

00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.570 align:middle line:84%
I speak to you in one
tongue but every moment

00:02:18.570 --> 00:02:22.890 align:middle line:84%
that ever mattered to me
occurred in another language,

00:02:22.890 --> 00:02:28.560 align:middle line:84%
starting with my first word
to no one in particular."

00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:31.310 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:31.310 --> 00:02:37.000 align:middle line:90%