WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.230 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.230 --> 00:00:05.145 align:middle line:84% The last poem is called "Now that the Subjunctive is Dying." 00:00:05.145 --> 00:00:10.100 align:middle line:90% 00:00:10.100 --> 00:00:13.250 align:middle line:84% This person and I were having a conversation 00:00:13.250 --> 00:00:15.960 align:middle line:84% about the subjunctive, believe it or not. 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.490 align:middle line:90% And he had a book on-- 00:00:19.490 --> 00:00:24.465 align:middle line:84% oh, a really thick book on historic forms 00:00:24.465 --> 00:00:25.340 align:middle line:90% of grammar and stuff. 00:00:25.340 --> 00:00:26.257 align:middle line:90% And so I looked it up. 00:00:26.257 --> 00:00:28.830 align:middle line:84% I wanted to see what was going on. 00:00:28.830 --> 00:00:31.550 align:middle line:84% And in this description of the subjunctive, 00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:34.910 align:middle line:84% it had this phrase, "Now that the subjunctive is dying," 00:00:34.910 --> 00:00:37.490 align:middle line:84% and then it went on to describe why and everything. 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:40.130 align:middle line:84% So, I wrote this poem that day and I 00:00:40.130 --> 00:00:43.820 align:middle line:84% tried to use the subjunctive in as many places as I could. 00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:46.880 align:middle line:90% 00:00:46.880 --> 00:00:49.400 align:middle line:84% I mean, that is the poet's function, isn't it? 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:52.380 align:middle line:90% 00:00:52.380 --> 00:00:56.690 align:middle line:84% And this poem, first, for the woman who asked me today 00:00:56.690 --> 00:01:01.520 align:middle line:84% about how I know when it goes into lines and prose and stuff, 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:03.236 align:middle line:90% well, it looks like this. 00:01:03.236 --> 00:01:04.819 align:middle line:84% It starts out-- it's in four sections. 00:01:04.819 --> 00:01:08.400 align:middle line:84% It starts out very linear, then it goes into a prose paragraph, 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.030 align:middle line:84% then it goes into two lines, and then it goes into-- 00:01:14.030 --> 00:01:18.080 align:middle line:84% so that's not an explanation, that's an illustration. 00:01:18.080 --> 00:01:23.820 align:middle line:90% 00:01:23.820 --> 00:01:29.660 align:middle line:84% Now that the subjunctive is dying, 00:01:29.660 --> 00:01:32.960 align:middle line:84% the interior pulse of loosely closed mouth 00:01:32.960 --> 00:01:38.150 align:middle line:84% after love, roof and tongue in that pause of not 00:01:38.150 --> 00:01:42.710 align:middle line:84% what might be, but learning each seam of you, 00:01:42.710 --> 00:01:47.870 align:middle line:84% how plum and undulate life of testicles goes on tenderly. 00:01:47.870 --> 00:01:53.540 align:middle line:84% Soles of feet in water, yours, if only candlelight piles up 00:01:53.540 --> 00:02:00.110 align:middle line:84% on porcelain edge of tub to fall off with of glide soapy skin. 00:02:00.110 --> 00:02:03.260 align:middle line:84% Now clouds blowing towards us, the dark's 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:07.550 align:middle line:84% away in a midday light that might have been Italian. 00:02:07.550 --> 00:02:11.780 align:middle line:84% Pigeons on the other side of glass five floors up in wind 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:15.290 align:middle line:84% marked with faint dust streaks swoop down, 00:02:15.290 --> 00:02:20.690 align:middle line:84% curving arcs cut sideways, given depth by milk-colored stucco 00:02:20.690 --> 00:02:23.870 align:middle line:84% buildings, shadows in the old style, 00:02:23.870 --> 00:02:27.830 align:middle line:84% summery, and fire ladders climbing down or up 00:02:27.830 --> 00:02:30.020 align:middle line:90% to antennae. 00:02:30.020 --> 00:02:35.600 align:middle line:84% We are lavish rooms with many doorways that open out. 00:02:35.600 --> 00:02:39.800 align:middle line:84% Your face, if that is your body standing there, 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:44.330 align:middle line:84% suggests the hand on a knob that could be possibly turning. 00:02:44.330 --> 00:02:47.710 align:middle line:90% 00:02:47.710 --> 00:02:52.300 align:middle line:84% When I left you those hours and went for my Saturday massage, 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:56.620 align:middle line:84% Mary laying her small brown Sicilian hands on my body, 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:59.350 align:middle line:90% felt the tightness move off. 00:02:59.350 --> 00:03:01.570 align:middle line:90% Did you feel it go, she said. 00:03:01.570 --> 00:03:02.650 align:middle line:90% It left. 00:03:02.650 --> 00:03:04.570 align:middle line:90% You were so open today. 00:03:04.570 --> 00:03:06.610 align:middle line:90% Something's happening. 00:03:06.610 --> 00:03:09.340 align:middle line:84% The door may shut, but he's opened it. 00:03:09.340 --> 00:03:13.330 align:middle line:84% He's standing in it, listening to what you might be 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:16.225 align:middle line:90% able to say, what he can hear. 00:03:16.225 --> 00:03:19.110 align:middle line:90% 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:21.380 align:middle line:90% Touch to tell you. 00:03:21.380 --> 00:03:25.520 align:middle line:90% Listen to touch everything. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:30.350 align:middle line:84% This is this day in which someone didn't run away. 00:03:30.350 --> 00:03:33.860 align:middle line:90% 00:03:33.860 --> 00:03:35.930 align:middle line:90% Sleep after little sleep. 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:41.570 align:middle line:84% Sweet afternoon, as if not disfigured by anyone's time. 00:03:41.570 --> 00:03:45.110 align:middle line:90% Only bits of fog hide in air. 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.830 align:middle line:84% I lie on your bed reading Rilke and copying his best 00:03:48.830 --> 00:03:51.170 align:middle line:90% lines into my notebook. 00:03:51.170 --> 00:03:55.280 align:middle line:84% Wake up hours later, deep in snow drift, 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.720 align:middle line:84% pen still in hand, as though writing. 00:03:59.720 --> 00:04:03.710 align:middle line:84% We were all night finding each other's tongues and knees. 00:04:03.710 --> 00:04:08.540 align:middle line:84% We were all that could have been in our own finishing. 00:04:08.540 --> 00:04:12.080 align:middle line:84% Still, sleep has taken me into late afternoon 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.750 align:middle line:84% with the corner of your bedspread pulled up 00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:20.510 align:middle line:84% over me while you, on your back, in air, above the couch, 00:04:20.510 --> 00:04:25.610 align:middle line:84% in the other room, discover your body below 00:04:25.610 --> 00:04:28.295 align:middle line:90% and a girl dreaming of a door. 00:04:28.295 --> 00:04:31.190 align:middle line:90% 00:04:31.190 --> 00:04:31.790 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:35.262 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:04:35.262 --> 00:04:49.150 align:middle line:90% 00:04:49.150 --> 00:04:50.312 align:middle line:90% Come to the reception. 00:04:50.312 --> 00:04:51.520 align:middle line:90% Where is the reception again? 00:04:51.520 --> 00:04:52.062 align:middle line:90% Student Union 00:04:52.062 --> 00:04:54.090 align:middle line:90% At the Student Union. 00:04:54.090 --> 00:05:02.498 align:middle line:90%