WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.530 align:middle line:90%


00:00:12.530 --> 00:00:18.740 align:middle line:84%
I was asked to read often
this afternoon and yesterday

00:00:18.740 --> 00:00:19.910 align:middle line:90%
two poems.

00:00:19.910 --> 00:00:22.790 align:middle line:84%
One, the Negress
the Negress poem,

00:00:22.790 --> 00:00:24.140 align:middle line:90%
and the other the leper poem.

00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:26.840 align:middle line:90%


00:00:26.840 --> 00:00:28.610 align:middle line:84%
I mean, the Negress
Her Monologue

00:00:28.610 --> 00:00:31.160 align:middle line:84%
of Dark Crepe with Edges of
Light that sounds [INAUDIBLE]

00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:35.450 align:middle line:84%
And the Pennacesse Leper Colony
for Women, Cape Cod: 1922.

00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:38.270 align:middle line:90%
That sounds great.

00:00:38.270 --> 00:00:39.950 align:middle line:90%
I had to choose between them.

00:00:39.950 --> 00:00:45.490 align:middle line:84%
And it seemed finally more
people ask for the latter poem.

00:00:45.490 --> 00:00:48.172 align:middle line:90%


00:00:48.172 --> 00:00:49.380 align:middle line:90%
And so that's what I'll read.

00:00:49.380 --> 00:01:11.680 align:middle line:90%


00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.480 align:middle line:84%
I didn't want Pittsburgh
breaking my lines.

00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:15.460 align:middle line:90%
I have long lines in this book.

00:01:15.460 --> 00:01:17.090 align:middle line:90%
I didn't want them to do it.

00:01:17.090 --> 00:01:20.680 align:middle line:84%
And so I settled on a, I don't
know, nine point typeface,

00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:21.640 align:middle line:90%
which I can't read.

00:01:21.640 --> 00:01:33.830 align:middle line:90%


00:01:33.830 --> 00:01:35.345 align:middle line:90%
Oh, that's better, good.

00:01:35.345 --> 00:01:38.540 align:middle line:84%
[SOUND OF EQUIPMENT ADJUSTING]
Have I blinded five of you?

00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:44.090 align:middle line:84%
The Pennacesse Leper Colony
for Women, Cape Cod: 1922.

00:01:44.090 --> 00:01:49.850 align:middle line:84%
The island you mustn't say
had only rocks in scrub pine

00:01:49.850 --> 00:01:54.170 align:middle line:84%
was on a blue, bright day like
a blemish in this landscape.

00:01:54.170 --> 00:01:57.710 align:middle line:84%
And Charlotte, who is frail
and the youngest of us

00:01:57.710 --> 00:01:59.840 align:middle line:84%
collects sticks and
branches to start

00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:05.150 align:middle line:84%
our fires cries as they burn
because they resemble most what

00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:10.430 align:middle line:84%
she has lost or has little
of long fingers, her toes,

00:02:10.430 --> 00:02:13.130 align:middle line:84%
and a left arm
gone past the elbow

00:02:13.130 --> 00:02:16.100 align:middle line:90%
soon clear to her shoulder.

00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:18.680 align:middle line:90%
She has the mouth of sea perch.

00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.500 align:middle line:84%
Five of our sisters
wear green hoods.

00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:23.780 align:middle line:90%
You are touched by all of this.

00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:25.820 align:middle line:90%
But not by us.

00:02:25.820 --> 00:02:29.240 align:middle line:84%
To be touched by
us, to be kissed.

00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:32.840 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes, we see couples
rowing in the distance

00:02:32.840 --> 00:02:34.820 align:middle line:90%
in yellow coats.

00:02:34.820 --> 00:02:37.790 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes, they fish
with hand lines.

00:02:37.790 --> 00:02:40.670 align:middle line:84%
We offend everyone
who offended most

00:02:40.670 --> 00:02:43.640 align:middle line:90%
and by everything and everyone.

00:02:43.640 --> 00:02:48.800 align:middle line:84%
The five goats love us though
and live in our dark houses.

00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.740 align:middle line:84%
When they are full with
milk, they climb the steps

00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:54.200 align:middle line:90%
and beg that they be milked.

00:02:54.200 --> 00:02:57.590 align:middle line:84%
Their tits brush the steps
and leave thick yellow trails

00:02:57.590 --> 00:02:59.360 align:middle line:90%
of fresh milk.

00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.490 align:middle line:90%
We are all females here.

00:03:01.490 --> 00:03:06.890 align:middle line:84%
Even the ghosts, we must wash,
of course, and salt water.

00:03:06.890 --> 00:03:11.240 align:middle line:84%
But it smarts or maybe
it even hurts us.

00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:13.610 align:middle line:84%
Often, with a rope
around her waist,

00:03:13.610 --> 00:03:16.730 align:middle line:84%
Ann is lowered entirely
into the water,

00:03:16.730 --> 00:03:20.540 align:middle line:84%
she splashes around
and screams in pain.

00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:23.720 align:middle line:84%
Her screams sometimes
carry clear to the beaches

00:03:23.720 --> 00:03:25.430 align:middle line:90%
on the cape.

00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:28.280 align:middle line:90%
For us, I say so often.

00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.590 align:middle line:90%
For us, we say for us.

00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:33.530 align:middle line:90%
We're human and not individual.

00:03:33.530 --> 00:03:35.810 align:middle line:90%
We hold everything in common.

00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:37.430 align:middle line:90%
We are individual.

00:03:37.430 --> 00:03:39.980 align:middle line:84%
You could pick us
out in a crowd.

00:03:39.980 --> 00:03:41.540 align:middle line:90%
You did.

00:03:41.540 --> 00:03:44.510 align:middle line:90%
This island is not our prison.

00:03:44.510 --> 00:03:46.220 align:middle line:90%
We're not kept in.

00:03:46.220 --> 00:03:48.790 align:middle line:90%
Not even by our skin.

00:03:48.790 --> 00:03:53.120 align:middle line:84%
Once Ann said, she would
love to be a Negro or trout.

00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.190 align:middle line:90%
We live without you.

00:03:55.190 --> 00:03:59.180 align:middle line:84%
Father, I don't know why
I've written you all of this.

00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:02.280 align:middle line:90%
But be proud for I'm living.

00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:06.350 align:middle line:84%
And yet each day, I'm
less and less your flesh.

00:04:06.350 --> 00:04:09.470 align:middle line:84%
Someday, eventually,
you should only

00:04:09.470 --> 00:04:13.850 align:middle line:84%
think of me as being a lightning
bug on the lawn, or the Negro

00:04:13.850 --> 00:04:18.410 align:middle line:84%
fishing at the pond, or the
fat trout he raps and leaves

00:04:18.410 --> 00:04:21.019 align:middle line:90%
that he is showing to someone.

00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:23.360 align:middle line:90%
I'll be most everything for you.

00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:25.495 align:middle line:90%
And I'll be gone.

00:04:25.495 --> 00:04:37.290 align:middle line:90%