WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.290 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.290 --> 00:00:02.970 align:middle line:84%
I'll read the title
poem from the book

00:00:02.970 --> 00:00:06.345 align:middle line:84%
and then turn to
the newer poems.

00:00:06.345 --> 00:00:14.240 align:middle line:90%


00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.370 align:middle line:84%
This poem "Elegies
for the Hot Season"

00:00:16.370 --> 00:00:23.060 align:middle line:84%
is in two sections, one
dealing with killing

00:00:23.060 --> 00:00:27.200 align:middle line:84%
the snails in the garden in
California where I grew up,

00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:30.440 align:middle line:84%
and the other dealing
with burning out

00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:34.070 align:middle line:84%
tent caterpillars, which are
little, tiny worm-like things

00:00:34.070 --> 00:00:37.820 align:middle line:84%
that build webs and were
infesting a neighbor's

00:00:37.820 --> 00:00:38.810 align:middle line:90%
cherry tree.

00:00:38.810 --> 00:00:41.860 align:middle line:90%


00:00:41.860 --> 00:00:43.270 align:middle line:90%
"Elegies for the Hot Season."

00:00:43.270 --> 00:00:47.220 align:middle line:90%


00:00:47.220 --> 00:00:51.750 align:middle line:84%
"Half the year has
hot nights like this,

00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:56.850 align:middle line:84%
when gnats fly, thick as stars,
when the temperature is taken

00:00:56.850 --> 00:01:02.040 align:middle line:84%
on the tongues of flowers and
lovers, when the just dead

00:01:02.040 --> 00:01:05.820 align:middle line:90%
is buried in warm sod.

00:01:05.820 --> 00:01:09.960 align:middle line:84%
The snail-pebbled lawns
glimmer with slime trails.

00:01:09.960 --> 00:01:13.260 align:middle line:84%
And the unworried,
unhurried snail tucks

00:01:13.260 --> 00:01:20.370 align:middle line:84%
into his dark knuckle, stockaded
with spears of grass, safe.

00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:22.800 align:middle line:84%
When I first heard the
sound of his dying,

00:01:22.800 --> 00:01:24.360 align:middle line:90%
it was like knuckles cracking.

00:01:24.360 --> 00:01:27.270 align:middle line:90%


00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:30.510 align:middle line:84%
The lightest foot
can slay snails.

00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:34.650 align:middle line:84%
Their shells break more
easily than mirrors.

00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:38.310 align:middle line:84%
And like bad luck, like
a face in a mirror,

00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:41.730 align:middle line:90%
they always come back.

00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:46.140 align:middle line:84%
Good hunting nights were
stuffy as a closed room.

00:01:46.140 --> 00:01:49.680 align:middle line:84%
No moon shone, but my
father's flashlight,

00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:52.620 align:middle line:84%
as if it were Jericho,
he circled the house.

00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:57.240 align:middle line:84%
And I'd hear all evening the
thick crunch of his marching,

00:01:57.240 --> 00:02:00.480 align:middle line:84%
the sound of death due
to his size 13 shoe.

00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.090 align:middle line:90%


00:02:03.090 --> 00:02:08.039 align:middle line:84%
In the morning, I'd find them,
little clots on the grass,

00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:13.170 align:middle line:84%
pretend they'd been singed
by geranium fire bursts,

00:02:13.170 --> 00:02:18.900 align:middle line:84%
asphyxiated by blue iris
flame, burnt to shadows

00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:22.780 align:middle line:90%
under the strawberry blossom.

00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:25.750 align:middle line:90%
The fuchsias bled for them.

00:02:25.750 --> 00:02:29.710 align:middle line:84%
White-throated calla lilies,
maintained appearances

00:02:29.710 --> 00:02:33.430 align:middle line:90%
above the snail slum.

00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:37.510 align:middle line:84%
But the slow-brained
pests forgave and fragily

00:02:37.510 --> 00:02:40.690 align:middle line:84%
claimed the garden
the next hot season,

00:02:40.690 --> 00:02:42.775 align:middle line:90%
like old friends or avengers.

00:02:42.775 --> 00:02:45.950 align:middle line:90%


00:02:45.950 --> 00:02:49.100 align:middle line:84%
Today, I watch our
neighbor celebrating May,

00:02:49.100 --> 00:02:53.840 align:middle line:84%
ringing around the besieged
cherry tree, his haunted maple,

00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:56.750 align:middle line:84%
brandishing his arson's
torch through the tents

00:02:56.750 --> 00:02:59.600 align:middle line:90%
of caterpillars.

00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:05.150 align:middle line:84%
He plays conductor, striking
his baton for the May music.

00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:07.550 align:middle line:84%
And the soft,
fingery caterpillars

00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:12.230 align:middle line:90%
perform, snap, crackle, pop.

00:03:12.230 --> 00:03:16.190 align:middle line:84%
They plummet through our holiday
of leaves like fireworks,

00:03:16.190 --> 00:03:21.290 align:middle line:84%
or shooting stars, or votive
candles, or buttercups,

00:03:21.290 --> 00:03:27.800 align:middle line:84%
under the hex of neighbors want,
first fruits of euthanasia,

00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:32.000 align:middle line:84%
ripe and red,
before the cherries.

00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:36.740 align:middle line:84%
And it is over, grown
cold as a sunset.

00:03:36.740 --> 00:03:38.570 align:middle line:84%
They lie on the
grass, still in black

00:03:38.570 --> 00:03:41.090 align:middle line:90%
as those who lie under it.

00:03:41.090 --> 00:03:43.010 align:middle line:90%
It is night.

00:03:43.010 --> 00:03:47.900 align:middle line:84%
Lights burn in the city,
like lamps of a search party,

00:03:47.900 --> 00:03:52.010 align:middle line:84%
like the search beam of
my father's flashlight,

00:03:52.010 --> 00:03:55.840 align:middle line:84%
at every swing
discovering death."

00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:00.000 align:middle line:90%