WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.005 align:middle line:84%
And then, I'll read a poem
called "The Iron Bridge."

00:00:04.005 --> 00:00:09.650 align:middle line:90%


00:00:09.650 --> 00:00:13.340 align:middle line:90%
"The Iron Bridge"

00:00:13.340 --> 00:00:16.190 align:middle line:84%
"I am standing on a
disused iron bridge

00:00:16.190 --> 00:00:20.510 align:middle line:84%
that was erected in 1902,
according to the iron bolt--

00:00:20.510 --> 00:00:23.840 align:middle line:84%
according to the iron
plaque bolted into a beam,

00:00:23.840 --> 00:00:26.600 align:middle line:90%
the year my mother turned one.

00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:29.900 align:middle line:84%
Imagine, a mother in
her infancy, and she

00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:33.320 align:middle line:84%
was a Canadian infant at
that, one of the great infants

00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:36.020 align:middle line:90%
of the province of Ontario.

00:00:36.020 --> 00:00:38.570 align:middle line:84%
But here I am leaning on
the rusted railing looking

00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:40.970 align:middle line:84%
at the water below, which
is flat and reflective

00:00:40.970 --> 00:00:44.630 align:middle line:84%
this morning, sky-blue and
streaked with high clouds.

00:00:44.630 --> 00:00:47.390 align:middle line:84%
And the more I look at the
water, which is like a talking

00:00:47.390 --> 00:00:50.480 align:middle line:84%
picture, the more
I think of 1902

00:00:50.480 --> 00:00:54.770 align:middle line:84%
when workmen in shirts and
caps riveted this iron bridge

00:00:54.770 --> 00:00:58.520 align:middle line:84%
together across a thin
channel joining two lakes,

00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:03.050 align:middle line:84%
where wildflowers blow along the
shore now, and pairs of swans

00:01:03.050 --> 00:01:06.140 align:middle line:90%
float in the leafy coves.

00:01:06.140 --> 00:01:10.610 align:middle line:84%
1902, my mother was
so tiny she could

00:01:10.610 --> 00:01:12.530 align:middle line:84%
have fit into one of
those oval baskets

00:01:12.530 --> 00:01:15.800 align:middle line:84%
for holding apples, which
her mother could have

00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:19.430 align:middle line:84%
lined with a soft cloth and
placed on the kitchen table,

00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:22.400 align:middle line:84%
so she could keep an
eye on infant Katherine,

00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:25.970 align:middle line:84%
while she scrubbed potatoes
or shelled a bag of peas.

00:01:25.970 --> 00:01:29.510 align:middle line:84%
The way I am keeping an
eye on that cormorant who

00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:32.690 align:middle line:84%
just broke the glassy
surface, and is moving away

00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:36.860 align:middle line:84%
from me and the iron bridge,
swiveling his curious head,

00:01:36.860 --> 00:01:40.340 align:middle line:84%
slipping out to where the sun
rakes the water and filters

00:01:40.340 --> 00:01:42.980 align:middle line:84%
through the trees
that crowd the shore.

00:01:42.980 --> 00:01:47.570 align:middle line:84%
And now, he dives,
disappears below the surface.

00:01:47.570 --> 00:01:50.570 align:middle line:84%
And while I wait for
him to pop up somewhere,

00:01:50.570 --> 00:01:55.430 align:middle line:84%
I picture him flying underwater
with his strange wings,

00:01:55.430 --> 00:01:59.000 align:middle line:84%
as I picture you,
my tiny mother, who

00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.270 align:middle line:84%
disappeared last
year, flying somewhere

00:02:02.270 --> 00:02:04.220 align:middle line:90%
with your strange wings.

00:02:04.220 --> 00:02:07.670 align:middle line:84%
Your wide eyes and
your heavy wet dress

00:02:07.670 --> 00:02:12.740 align:middle line:84%
kicking deeper down into a
lake with no end, no name,

00:02:12.740 --> 00:02:16.180 align:middle line:84%
some boundless
province of water."

00:02:16.180 --> 00:02:18.000 align:middle line:90%