WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.230 align:middle line:84%
And this is "Old
Poet Discoursing

00:00:04.230 --> 00:00:05.550 align:middle line:90%
as the Sun Goes Down."

00:00:05.550 --> 00:00:11.030 align:middle line:90%


00:00:11.030 --> 00:00:13.190 align:middle line:84%
"He stood at the
top of the drive

00:00:13.190 --> 00:00:18.050 align:middle line:84%
in a lovingly tended
wilderness of heliconia.

00:00:18.050 --> 00:00:20.450 align:middle line:90%
Planted for Basho you know.

00:00:20.450 --> 00:00:25.860 align:middle line:84%
David and Sam have gone dancing
in the village, an owlish,

00:00:25.860 --> 00:00:28.160 align:middle line:90%
conspiring show."

00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.080 align:middle line:90%
Let me start again.

00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:36.710 align:middle line:84%
I should probably say that
Basho the great Japanese poet

00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:45.170 align:middle line:84%
name, the pen name he took,
Basho, means "banana plant".

00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:48.110 align:middle line:84%
And he had a big
one in his garden,

00:00:48.110 --> 00:00:52.730 align:middle line:84%
and of course it's heliconia,
and this, the poet in this poem

00:00:52.730 --> 00:00:55.370 align:middle line:90%
has also grown one.

00:00:55.370 --> 00:00:57.900 align:middle line:90%


00:00:57.900 --> 00:01:00.500 align:middle line:84%
"He stood at the
top of the drive

00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:05.060 align:middle line:84%
in a lovingly tented
wilderness of heliconia.

00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:07.670 align:middle line:90%
Planted for Basho, you know.

00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:10.550 align:middle line:84%
David and Sam have gone
dancing in the village.

00:01:10.550 --> 00:01:13.610 align:middle line:84%
David was crushed that
he couldn't see you.

00:01:13.610 --> 00:01:16.550 align:middle line:90%
An owlish, conspiring shrub.

00:01:16.550 --> 00:01:20.400 align:middle line:84%
We have the evening
to ourselves.

00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.090 align:middle line:84%
My father had met
him at a boarding

00:01:23.090 --> 00:01:27.530 align:middle line:84%
school where lonely boys
mythologized each other.

00:01:27.530 --> 00:01:31.610 align:middle line:84%
He was, my father said,
the cleverest person

00:01:31.610 --> 00:01:35.570 align:middle line:84%
I had ever met, cleverer
than our teachers

00:01:35.570 --> 00:01:37.850 align:middle line:90%
who seemed to know everything.

00:01:37.850 --> 00:01:40.910 align:middle line:84%
There was a story about the
first evening in the dining

00:01:40.910 --> 00:01:41.750 align:middle line:90%
hall.

00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:45.830 align:middle line:84%
The boy sat down to lumps
of indeterminate white fish

00:01:45.830 --> 00:01:48.110 align:middle line:90%
and soggy vegetables.

00:01:48.110 --> 00:01:50.030 align:middle line:90%
My father laughed.

00:01:50.030 --> 00:01:52.680 align:middle line:90%
He looked down and looked up.

00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.600 align:middle line:84%
He had the face even then
of an unusually intelligent

00:01:56.600 --> 00:02:01.850 align:middle line:84%
and rueful dog, and said in a
tone that mimicked perfectly

00:02:01.850 --> 00:02:05.930 align:middle line:84%
the headmaster's sepulchral
first day sermon,

00:02:05.930 --> 00:02:08.389 align:middle line:90%
"Boys, a Russian proverb.

00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:10.880 align:middle line:84%
The best kind of
fish is sausage."

00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:13.520 align:middle line:90%


00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:17.780 align:middle line:84%
That went through the school, my
father said, like a conger eel

00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:20.120 align:middle line:90%
through salt grass.

00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:23.480 align:middle line:84%
There were stories too
about his awkwardness.

00:02:23.480 --> 00:02:27.530 align:middle line:84%
Terrible at sports,
ferociously earnest,

00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:32.670 align:middle line:84%
he launched his body in the
air as if it were expendable.

00:02:32.670 --> 00:02:36.080 align:middle line:84%
He was a patchwork of
bruises and turf burns,

00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:40.580 align:middle line:84%
and a source of constant
humor to the athletes.

00:02:40.580 --> 00:02:43.370 align:middle line:84%
My father came across
him once applying

00:02:43.370 --> 00:02:47.150 align:middle line:84%
some stinging antiseptic
to his livid arm

00:02:47.150 --> 00:02:50.000 align:middle line:84%
and said, "I don't know
why you put up with it.

00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.020 align:middle line:84%
You're superior to those
idiots in every way."

00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:58.100 align:middle line:84%
He looked up solemnly from
his bloodied cotton swab

00:02:58.100 --> 00:03:04.400 align:middle line:84%
and said, "Oh, nothing is
superior to physical grace."

00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:10.970 align:middle line:84%
Inside the house, books piled
everywhere, he mixed us drinks.

00:03:10.970 --> 00:03:12.770 align:middle line:84%
He belonged to the
generation that

00:03:12.770 --> 00:03:16.250 align:middle line:84%
liked to think there was
some hermetic art to mixing

00:03:16.250 --> 00:03:18.050 align:middle line:90%
a Martini.

00:03:18.050 --> 00:03:22.880 align:middle line:84%
I said I was sorry that I
wouldn't get to see David.

00:03:22.880 --> 00:03:25.910 align:middle line:84%
"Oh," the hapless
theatrical twitch.

00:03:25.910 --> 00:03:29.120 align:middle line:90%
"He'll be quite late."

00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:31.820 align:middle line:90%
"Does it make you jealous?"

00:03:31.820 --> 00:03:35.505 align:middle line:84%
I thought it was the
question that is unsolicited.

00:03:35.505 --> 00:03:37.250 align:middle line:90%
"Jealous?

00:03:37.250 --> 00:03:39.830 align:middle line:90%
No, not jealous.

00:03:39.830 --> 00:03:42.830 align:middle line:84%
The one or two before
Sam had to me frantic.

00:03:42.830 --> 00:03:45.650 align:middle line:84%
I tried to be
paternal, noble minded.

00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:48.500 align:middle line:84%
And I've certainly
been there, haven't I,

00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:51.920 align:middle line:84%
but mostly I was
a raving bitch."

00:03:51.920 --> 00:03:54.140 align:middle line:90%
A gleam of triumph.

00:03:54.140 --> 00:03:56.900 align:middle line:84%
He handed me the
drink, sat down.

00:03:56.900 --> 00:04:00.860 align:middle line:84%
I've been thinking about
the word appointment.

00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:06.230 align:middle line:84%
It's to do with sex and
time, I think, and luck.

00:04:06.230 --> 00:04:09.080 align:middle line:90%
I've had an image.

00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:12.230 align:middle line:84%
I may be saving, and
I'm afraid I've reached

00:04:12.230 --> 00:04:14.480 align:middle line:90%
the age for summings up.

00:04:14.480 --> 00:04:19.160 align:middle line:84%
I've had an image of two
people in quite different parts

00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:23.870 align:middle line:84%
of the city at a
certain time leaving off

00:04:23.870 --> 00:04:26.300 align:middle line:90%
whatever it is they do.

00:04:26.300 --> 00:04:29.060 align:middle line:90%
They go to their cars.

00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:32.040 align:middle line:90%
They drive across the city.

00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:33.980 align:middle line:90%
They find a place to park.

00:04:33.980 --> 00:04:38.180 align:middle line:84%
All of life is going on around
them, meat being delivered,

00:04:38.180 --> 00:04:40.010 align:middle line:90%
insurance sold.

00:04:40.010 --> 00:04:43.940 align:middle line:84%
The city itself has grown
from a swampy conjuring

00:04:43.940 --> 00:04:45.860 align:middle line:90%
of medieval villages.

00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:49.010 align:middle line:84%
In our irradiating
poverty of intention

00:04:49.010 --> 00:04:51.590 align:middle line:84%
someone has
rationalized the streets

00:04:51.590 --> 00:04:54.380 align:middle line:84%
and put in names and
signs and lights,

00:04:54.380 --> 00:04:58.010 align:middle line:84%
and these have been
negotiated, and these two,

00:04:58.010 --> 00:05:00.830 align:middle line:84%
who have maps of the
city in their heads,

00:05:00.830 --> 00:05:05.520 align:middle line:84%
have come to the same
place at the same time.

00:05:05.520 --> 00:05:07.920 align:middle line:84%
Other mammals can
do it, of course,

00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.190 align:middle line:84%
but it's quite amazing
if you think of it.

00:05:10.190 --> 00:05:16.520 align:middle line:84%
It's like hand eye coordination,
a special form of grace.

00:05:16.520 --> 00:05:21.370 align:middle line:84%
Half light, his ravaged
face could seem so innocent.

00:05:21.370 --> 00:05:25.790 align:middle line:84%
They're there, you see
because they wanted it.

00:05:25.790 --> 00:05:30.700 align:middle line:84%
They're both exactly
where they want to be.

00:05:30.700 --> 00:05:32.700 align:middle line:90%
Not innocence.

00:05:32.700 --> 00:05:36.380 align:middle line:84%
Some achieved
sweetness in his face

00:05:36.380 --> 00:05:38.750 align:middle line:90%
that was its near equivalent.

00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:41.720 align:middle line:90%
It's why disappointment.

00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:46.730 align:middle line:84%
Disappointment is a
dear and useful word.

00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:50.000 align:middle line:90%
Cruel, but accurate.

00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:52.310 align:middle line:90%
He smiled, shrugged.

00:05:52.310 --> 00:05:55.180 align:middle line:84%
I never, you know, in
my worst profligacy,

00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:58.540 align:middle line:84%
in my red and Christian
and Buddhist phases,

00:05:58.540 --> 00:06:01.220 align:middle line:84%
I knew what the rules were
if there should be any.

00:06:01.220 --> 00:06:03.970 align:middle line:84%
The only thing I was sure
of was that you don't

00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:06.250 align:middle line:90%
love in order to kill delight.

00:06:06.250 --> 00:06:13.510 align:middle line:84%
And so an awkward upward gesture
of the hand, one hurts others,

00:06:13.510 --> 00:06:15.970 align:middle line:90%
and one's hurt.

00:06:15.970 --> 00:06:21.730 align:middle line:84%
He got up, refreshed to
use his word, our drinks,

00:06:21.730 --> 00:06:25.420 align:middle line:84%
and turned on the lights
against the summer dusk.

00:06:25.420 --> 00:06:28.455 align:middle line:84%
Showed me a postcard of
himself and Milosz and Éluard

00:06:28.455 --> 00:06:34.000 align:middle line:84%
and Neruda on a Paris
bridge, young men in tweeds,

00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.770 align:middle line:84%
ties strained in the wind,
galois from their lips,

00:06:38.770 --> 00:06:46.140 align:middle line:84%
sat back down in the somewhat
discordant rattan of [INAUDIBLE].

00:06:46.140 --> 00:06:52.690 align:middle line:84%
So you can say that I am, as
we all must be, disappointed.

00:06:52.690 --> 00:06:55.210 align:middle line:90%


00:06:55.210 --> 00:06:59.370 align:middle line:84%
[INAUDIBLE] older and
he said the word again.

00:06:59.370 --> 00:07:01.380 align:middle line:90%
Disappointed.

00:07:01.380 --> 00:07:06.480 align:middle line:84%
But that doesn't mean the
appointment wasn't kept."

00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:18.000 align:middle line:90%