WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.190 align:middle line:90% You mentioned Chekhov before. 00:00:02.190 --> 00:00:05.370 align:middle line:84% In his later journals, he said that he 00:00:05.370 --> 00:00:07.140 align:middle line:84% felt his writing never accomplished 00:00:07.140 --> 00:00:08.595 align:middle line:90% what he had up in his head. 00:00:08.595 --> 00:00:12.960 align:middle line:84% And I was wondering if you feel like you're still learning. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.660 align:middle line:90% Oh, yeah. 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:19.860 align:middle line:84% I think one is-- if you're still learning was the question. 00:00:19.860 --> 00:00:22.500 align:middle line:84% Because Chekhov said, even toward the end, 00:00:22.500 --> 00:00:26.340 align:middle line:84% in his late journals, that he was dissatisfied with his work. 00:00:26.340 --> 00:00:29.520 align:middle line:84% Well, if he was dissatisfied, I'm really dissatisfied. 00:00:29.520 --> 00:00:32.130 align:middle line:90% 00:00:32.130 --> 00:00:38.130 align:middle line:84% I think, if any painter or poet, whatever, is satisfied, 00:00:38.130 --> 00:00:41.400 align:middle line:90% that they're essentially dead. 00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:44.490 align:middle line:84% It's the next poem that's always the one that's 00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:47.460 align:middle line:84% of interest to you, and the one that you think might be better 00:00:47.460 --> 00:00:49.800 align:middle line:84% or might be the perfect one, or the one 00:00:49.800 --> 00:00:52.800 align:middle line:84% that keeps tantalizing you to keep writing. 00:00:52.800 --> 00:00:56.080 align:middle line:84% So I think the life of the artist, so to speak, 00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:59.310 align:middle line:84% is inherently a life of dissatisfaction. 00:00:59.310 --> 00:01:00.360 align:middle line:90% And you'll never know. 00:01:00.360 --> 00:01:02.490 align:middle line:84% Someone has a good poem about that, escapes me. 00:01:02.490 --> 00:01:03.030 align:middle line:90% But-- 00:01:03.030 --> 00:01:03.730 align:middle line:90% Merwin. 00:01:03.730 --> 00:01:04.230 align:middle line:90% Huh? 00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:04.730 align:middle line:90% Merwin. 00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:05.290 align:middle line:90% Yeah, Merwin. 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:06.060 align:middle line:90% That's right. 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:06.980 align:middle line:90% It's part of the-- 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:09.180 align:middle line:90% it's built into the-- 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:12.270 align:middle line:84% it's a occupational hazard, never knowing 00:01:12.270 --> 00:01:15.000 align:middle line:84% if it's really any good or not, and being 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:20.820 align:middle line:84% prodded by this frustration to try to make it better. 00:01:20.820 --> 00:01:22.460 align:middle line:90% See, there are a number of-- 00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:24.230 align:middle line:84% the phenomenon of the poetry reading 00:01:24.230 --> 00:01:30.810 align:middle line:84% is interesting because there are so many of them these days. 00:01:30.810 --> 00:01:33.690 align:middle line:84% I was just over at the great library across the street 00:01:33.690 --> 00:01:39.000 align:middle line:84% there, and there's a picture of Robert Frost taken in 1960. 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.610 align:middle line:84% You know, when Frost was doing readings in 1960, 00:01:41.610 --> 00:01:43.050 align:middle line:90% he was doing real pioneer work. 00:01:43.050 --> 00:01:46.110 align:middle line:84% Not many people gave public readings. 00:01:46.110 --> 00:01:48.990 align:middle line:84% And now they're as popular as AA meetings. 00:01:48.990 --> 00:01:50.640 align:middle line:84% And, it's like, any city, there's, 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:52.980 align:middle line:84% like, four of them going on every night. 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:57.570 align:middle line:90% And there's some overlap there. 00:01:57.570 --> 00:02:02.430 align:middle line:84% But the interesting thing about the social phenomenon 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:05.040 align:middle line:84% of the poetry reading, for me, is 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:11.100 align:middle line:84% that it forces the poet to show an interest in poems that he 00:02:11.100 --> 00:02:16.020 align:middle line:84% or she has written in the past, and sometimes 10 00:02:16.020 --> 00:02:17.850 align:middle line:90% or 20 years ago. 00:02:17.850 --> 00:02:19.860 align:middle line:90% And I don't think-- 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:22.920 align:middle line:84% well, speaking for myself, I'm not interested in those poems 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:23.760 align:middle line:90% anymore. 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:24.390 align:middle line:90% They're done. 00:02:24.390 --> 00:02:25.680 align:middle line:90% They're just, it's history. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:28.980 align:middle line:84% I'm interested in this poem about the birds of Arizona, 00:02:28.980 --> 00:02:32.100 align:middle line:84% mostly, and maybe something I'll write next week. 00:02:32.100 --> 00:02:34.710 align:middle line:84% But the poetry reading asks you to get up and exhibit 00:02:34.710 --> 00:02:38.210 align:middle line:84% a kind of interest in them, which I'm happy to do. 00:02:38.210 --> 00:02:41.495 align:middle line:84% But there's a cleft between, I think, 00:02:41.495 --> 00:02:42.870 align:middle line:84% what the poet's really interested 00:02:42.870 --> 00:02:46.110 align:middle line:84% in, which is what's going to happen tomorrow 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:49.410 align:middle line:84% or this afternoon or what lines might get generated out 00:02:49.410 --> 00:02:54.180 align:middle line:84% of today, or something, and how the poetry reading presents 00:02:54.180 --> 00:03:00.900 align:middle line:84% the poet as having a rather sort of sick affection for work 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:02.475 align:middle line:90% that's already been completed. 00:03:02.475 --> 00:03:05.100 align:middle line:84% And I don't think most poets are really that interested in work 00:03:05.100 --> 00:03:10.520 align:middle line:84% that they've done a year or 10 years, 20 years ago.