WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.100 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.100 --> 00:00:05.070 align:middle line:84% I read here in 1972, and mainly I 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:07.520 align:middle line:90% just told jokes as I recollect. 00:00:07.520 --> 00:00:11.940 align:middle line:84% I had a lot of-- but I did that the other night out at Pima. 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:14.886 align:middle line:90% I had an audience of 11. 00:00:14.886 --> 00:00:16.200 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:16.200 --> 00:00:18.850 align:middle line:90% Very stalwart and loyal. 00:00:18.850 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:90% The second string football team. 00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:21.750 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:23.250 align:middle line:90% The first string never comes. 00:00:23.250 --> 00:00:28.290 align:middle line:90% 00:00:28.290 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:90% I was asked to read this poem. 00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.870 align:middle line:90% My friend is in the audience-- 00:00:33.870 --> 00:00:36.593 align:middle line:84% Steve Orlen asked me to read a lot of new poems 00:00:36.593 --> 00:00:38.010 align:middle line:84% and said he didn't want me to read 00:00:38.010 --> 00:00:39.975 align:middle line:90% an anthology of all my books. 00:00:39.975 --> 00:00:41.010 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:41.010 --> 00:00:42.870 align:middle line:90% I think that's fair. 00:00:42.870 --> 00:00:46.862 align:middle line:84% Because that's what I did in Dallas the other day. 00:00:46.862 --> 00:00:47.820 align:middle line:90% They never heard of me. 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:48.320 align:middle line:90% So-- 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:49.203 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:49.203 --> 00:00:50.370 align:middle line:90% Or Detroit, for that matter. 00:00:50.370 --> 00:00:52.440 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:52.440 --> 00:00:56.550 align:middle line:84% Except that it was a losing team. 00:00:56.550 --> 00:01:01.500 align:middle line:84% This is a poem to my grandfather that appears in the book, 1933. 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:03.240 align:middle line:84% My grandfather was a tiny little man-- 00:01:03.240 --> 00:01:04.494 align:middle line:90% an immigrant. 00:01:04.494 --> 00:01:08.300 align:middle line:90% 00:01:08.300 --> 00:01:12.730 align:middle line:84% And because my father died when I was very young, 00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:14.290 align:middle line:90% he was very important to me. 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:16.400 align:middle line:84% And more important than one's grandfather 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:22.760 align:middle line:84% might ordinarily be, because he lived until I was an adult. 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:24.470 align:middle line:90% And he lived. 00:01:24.470 --> 00:01:25.190 align:middle line:90% He really lived. 00:01:25.190 --> 00:01:27.005 align:middle line:90% He lived recklessly and fully. 00:01:27.005 --> 00:01:29.690 align:middle line:90% 00:01:29.690 --> 00:01:33.800 align:middle line:84% "Zaide," it's called, which is Yiddish for grandfather. 00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:36.560 align:middle line:90% "Why does the sea burn? 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:39.860 align:middle line:90% Why do the hills cry? 00:01:39.860 --> 00:01:43.460 align:middle line:84% My grandfather opens a fresh box of English ovals, lights 00:01:43.460 --> 00:01:49.070 align:middle line:84% up, and lets the smoke drift like clouds from his lips. 00:01:49.070 --> 00:01:53.480 align:middle line:84% Where did my father go, and my fifth autumn? 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:57.290 align:middle line:84% In the blind night of Detroit on the front porch, 00:01:57.290 --> 00:01:59.750 align:middle line:84% grandfather points up at a constellation 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:03.990 align:middle line:90% shaped like a cock and balls. 00:02:03.990 --> 00:02:06.180 align:middle line:90% A tiny man. 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:09.570 align:middle line:90% At 13, I outgrew his shirts. 00:02:09.570 --> 00:02:12.150 align:middle line:84% I then beheld a closet of stolen suits, 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:14.940 align:middle line:84% a hive of elevator shoes, crisp hankies, 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:18.690 align:middle line:84% new bills in the cupboard, old in the wash. 00:02:18.690 --> 00:02:20.910 align:middle line:84% I held the spotted hands that passed 00:02:20.910 --> 00:02:23.910 align:middle line:84% over the breasts of airline stewardesses, that 00:02:23.910 --> 00:02:26.700 align:middle line:84% moved in the fields like a wind, stirring 00:02:26.700 --> 00:02:30.210 align:middle line:90% the long hairs of grain. 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:34.530 align:middle line:84% Where is the ocean, the flying fish, 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:38.460 align:middle line:90% the God who speaks from a cloud? 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:40.680 align:middle line:84% He carries a card table out under the moon 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:43.810 align:middle line:90% and plays gin rummy and cheats. 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:44.670 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:44.670 --> 00:02:47.320 align:middle line:84% He took me up in his arms when I couldn't walk 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:49.980 align:middle line:84% and carried me into the grove where the bees sang 00:02:49.980 --> 00:02:53.520 align:middle line:90% and the stream paused forever. 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:57.360 align:middle line:84% He laughs in the movies, cries in the streets. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:00.300 align:middle line:84% The judges in their gowns are monkeys. 00:03:00.300 --> 00:03:01.890 align:middle line:90% The lawyers mice. 00:03:01.890 --> 00:03:04.470 align:middle line:90% A cop is a fat hand. 00:03:04.470 --> 00:03:08.070 align:middle line:84% He holds up a strawberry and bites it. 00:03:08.070 --> 00:03:12.150 align:middle line:84% He sings a song of Freestone peaches all in a box. 00:03:12.150 --> 00:03:16.500 align:middle line:84% In the street, he sings out, Idaho potatoes, California, 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:19.310 align:middle line:90% California oranges. 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:22.130 align:middle line:90% He sings the months in prison. 00:03:22.130 --> 00:03:25.430 align:middle line:84% Singing salt pouring down the sunlight. 00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:28.700 align:middle line:84% Shoveling all night in the stove factory, 00:03:28.700 --> 00:03:32.930 align:middle line:84% he sings the oven-- breathing fire. 00:03:32.930 --> 00:03:36.440 align:middle line:84% Where did he go when his autumn came? 00:03:36.440 --> 00:03:40.370 align:middle line:84% He sat before the steering wheel of the black Packard. 00:03:40.370 --> 00:03:45.620 align:middle line:84% He turned the key, pressed the starter, and he went. 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:49.320 align:middle line:84% The maples blazed golden and red a moment. 00:03:49.320 --> 00:03:51.680 align:middle line:90% And then were still. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.740 align:middle line:90% The long streets were still. 00:03:54.740 --> 00:03:59.500 align:middle line:84% And the snow swirled where I lay down to rest." 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:00.000 align:middle line:90%