WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.030 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.030 --> 00:00:04.920 align:middle line:84%
The next poem is
called the solace

00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:10.260 align:middle line:84%
of poetry and part of
it's the idea for the poem

00:00:10.260 --> 00:00:14.860 align:middle line:84%
came from a concern that
I've had for a long time.

00:00:14.860 --> 00:00:18.510 align:middle line:84%
When I was a little kid, I
figured if I was uncomfortable

00:00:18.510 --> 00:00:21.540 align:middle line:84%
at all in life, if I
watched people very closely

00:00:21.540 --> 00:00:24.030 align:middle line:90%
I would figure out how to live.

00:00:24.030 --> 00:00:27.060 align:middle line:84%
If by a certain
kind of mimicry I

00:00:27.060 --> 00:00:29.640 align:middle line:84%
could penetrate to
the mysteries of life

00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:33.300 align:middle line:84%
just by watching other people
and trying to become them.

00:00:33.300 --> 00:00:36.810 align:middle line:84%
And I remember there
was a lovely poem

00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:41.790 align:middle line:84%
by Robert Muzzy called a
confession in which a voyeur is

00:00:41.790 --> 00:00:44.940 align:middle line:84%
speaking, a peeping
Tom is speaking

00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:50.070 align:middle line:84%
and he says something
like I only--

00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:51.780 align:middle line:84%
his reason for
doing this, he says

00:00:51.780 --> 00:00:56.250 align:middle line:84%
I only wanted to see how
people live not knowing how.

00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:58.080 align:middle line:84%
There's something
of that in the poem.

00:00:58.080 --> 00:01:03.250 align:middle line:90%


00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:07.150 align:middle line:84%
The solace of poetry is
not the solace of gossip,

00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:10.940 align:middle line:84%
although I can guess
particulars of your life.

00:01:10.940 --> 00:01:14.650 align:middle line:84%
Often from my window seat,
I watch two neighbors

00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:19.510 align:middle line:84%
breast, cheek and flank that
wilderness and something

00:01:19.510 --> 00:01:23.440 align:middle line:84%
glowing in the dark like a
string of pearls from one mouth

00:01:23.440 --> 00:01:26.020 align:middle line:90%
to the other.

00:01:26.020 --> 00:01:28.630 align:middle line:84%
As a child, I wanted
to be everyone.

00:01:28.630 --> 00:01:31.270 align:middle line:84%
I spied on the man
delivering milk

00:01:31.270 --> 00:01:34.780 align:middle line:84%
and on his counterpart in
striped pajamas at his kitchen

00:01:34.780 --> 00:01:40.210 align:middle line:84%
table thinking himself
alone while the world slept.

00:01:40.210 --> 00:01:42.250 align:middle line:90%
Your palms say hello.

00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:43.630 align:middle line:90%
It's private.

00:01:43.630 --> 00:01:46.120 align:middle line:84%
The child's need to
both keep and share

00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.720 align:middle line:90%
a secret after the lamp is off.

00:01:49.720 --> 00:01:53.380 align:middle line:84%
I lay your book aside to watch
the old couple undressing

00:01:53.380 --> 00:01:55.060 align:middle line:90%
before sleep.

00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:59.860 align:middle line:84%
They examine each scar and
mark in the body's history.

00:01:59.860 --> 00:02:04.600 align:middle line:84%
Something enters their life like
water enters a pond at night,

00:02:04.600 --> 00:02:09.160 align:middle line:84%
lies in their bed, faceless
as a dull beneath the quilt

00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:13.050 align:middle line:84%
remembered weight
and does not speak.

00:02:13.050 --> 00:02:14.000 align:middle line:90%