WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:03.030 align:middle line:90% So I think the poet's job-- 00:00:03.030 --> 00:00:06.810 align:middle line:84% I was mentioning Freud saying that wherever he went, 00:00:06.810 --> 00:00:09.970 align:middle line:90% a poet was there before him. 00:00:09.970 --> 00:00:14.530 align:middle line:84% And I think I want to mention Plato, 00:00:14.530 --> 00:00:18.220 align:middle line:84% because if Plato is getting a bad rap, 00:00:18.220 --> 00:00:22.480 align:middle line:84% he should because Plato wanted-- he censored the poets. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.270 align:middle line:84% He said that poets should be exiled from the city limits. 00:00:25.270 --> 00:00:27.640 align:middle line:90% This is no joke. 00:00:27.640 --> 00:00:30.070 align:middle line:84% Now a lot of the scholarship around this statement 00:00:30.070 --> 00:00:31.990 align:middle line:84% claims that Plato was saying that because he 00:00:31.990 --> 00:00:36.250 align:middle line:84% didn't like the occultism, and what he considered fantasy. 00:00:36.250 --> 00:00:38.650 align:middle line:90% I think that's crap. 00:00:38.650 --> 00:00:41.710 align:middle line:84% I think that the real reason the poets were exiled 00:00:41.710 --> 00:00:43.360 align:middle line:84% is because they were a real threat 00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:45.670 align:middle line:90% to his precious Republic. 00:00:45.670 --> 00:00:49.570 align:middle line:84% I can hear the poets now, saying, 00:00:49.570 --> 00:00:52.810 align:middle line:84% Mr. Plato, maybe you should give up your slaves 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:54.220 align:middle line:90% for your democracy. 00:00:54.220 --> 00:00:57.575 align:middle line:90% Maybe you should let women vote. 00:00:57.575 --> 00:00:58.450 align:middle line:90% You can just hear it. 00:00:58.450 --> 00:01:01.170 align:middle line:90% 00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:02.100 align:middle line:90% I don't like Plato. 00:01:02.100 --> 00:01:04.800 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:05.530 align:middle line:90% Whatever, though. 00:01:05.530 --> 00:01:06.030 align:middle line:90% Who cares? 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:08.760 align:middle line:84% So the thing is, though, the poet's job 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:12.750 align:middle line:84% is to pay attention very clearly, carefully, 00:01:12.750 --> 00:01:16.020 align:middle line:84% with ears that are listening to the language that's 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:20.730 align:middle line:84% being used, especially now, living in a time period 00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:28.340 align:middle line:84% when the Pentagon spends millions of dollars to sell us 00:01:28.340 --> 00:01:32.690 align:middle line:84% their latest products for the war machine. 00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:37.580 align:middle line:90% I want to talk about O-M, Om. 00:01:37.580 --> 00:01:40.760 align:middle line:84% It's kind of part of American culture now. 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:42.080 align:middle line:90% People meditate. 00:01:42.080 --> 00:01:42.890 align:middle line:90% They go to yoga. 00:01:42.890 --> 00:01:46.010 align:middle line:90% We all know Om. 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:48.560 align:middle line:84% So I want everybody to have your feet flat right now. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:50.150 align:middle line:90% Just have your feet flat. 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:52.820 align:middle line:90% It's really not that hard. 00:01:52.820 --> 00:01:58.670 align:middle line:84% And take a deep breath, and have an Om with me, a deep, deep Om. 00:01:58.670 --> 00:02:00.095 align:middle line:90% All right? 00:02:00.095 --> 00:02:00.595 align:middle line:90% Om. 00:02:00.595 --> 00:02:09.150 align:middle line:90% 00:02:09.150 --> 00:02:10.810 align:middle line:90% Did you feel it? 00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:13.890 align:middle line:84% Are you feeling what it does to you? 00:02:13.890 --> 00:02:15.990 align:middle line:90% This is ancient. 00:02:15.990 --> 00:02:21.450 align:middle line:84% The first book ever written was in India, the Rig Veda. 00:02:21.450 --> 00:02:23.700 align:middle line:84% In the Bhagavad Gita-- this is from the Bhagavad Gita, 00:02:23.700 --> 00:02:24.390 align:middle line:90% this quote. 00:02:24.390 --> 00:02:27.480 align:middle line:84% "There is harmony, peace, and bliss 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:32.130 align:middle line:84% in this simple but deeply philosophical sound." 00:02:32.130 --> 00:02:35.670 align:middle line:84% This has been used for a very long time. 00:02:35.670 --> 00:02:39.210 align:middle line:84% People knew a long time ago that this sound centers us, 00:02:39.210 --> 00:02:40.350 align:middle line:90% makes us feel good. 00:02:40.350 --> 00:02:43.230 align:middle line:90% 00:02:43.230 --> 00:02:47.400 align:middle line:84% The reason I bring this up is because drones 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.160 align:middle line:84% have been fed to us, and they have the long O 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:53.370 align:middle line:84% and the end clipped at the end, just like Om. 00:02:53.370 --> 00:02:56.310 align:middle line:84% They wanted to sell drone technology to us, 00:02:56.310 --> 00:02:57.003 align:middle line:90% and they did it. 00:02:57.003 --> 00:02:58.170 align:middle line:90% And they're very successful. 00:02:58.170 --> 00:03:01.710 align:middle line:84% Drones is part of our daily conversation now. 00:03:01.710 --> 00:03:03.340 align:middle line:84% What we need to remember, though, 00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:06.990 align:middle line:84% is that we are being fed this on a daily basis 00:03:06.990 --> 00:03:09.180 align:middle line:90% to make us feel OK. 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:11.500 align:middle line:84% And I just want us to remember that. 00:03:11.500 --> 00:03:14.820 align:middle line:84% And I also want you to join me that when drones come up 00:03:14.820 --> 00:03:18.430 align:middle line:84% in a conversation, that you start calling them 00:03:18.430 --> 00:03:20.800 align:middle line:90% with me what they really are. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:25.920 align:middle line:84% And what they really are are flying killer robots. 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:27.980 align:middle line:84% "Drones" is just a very sweet little word 00:03:27.980 --> 00:03:29.780 align:middle line:90% that makes you feel nice. 00:03:29.780 --> 00:03:33.725 align:middle line:84% Flying killer robots, that's what they are. 00:03:33.725 --> 00:03:36.620 align:middle line:84% You can guarantee that the drawing board 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:38.810 align:middle line:84% where they were making lists of words 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:42.680 align:middle line:84% to call these death machines, never on that board 00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.370 align:middle line:90% was "flying killer robots." 00:03:46.370 --> 00:03:50.210 align:middle line:84% We must stand-- the language of, as a weapon, 00:03:50.210 --> 00:03:52.760 align:middle line:90% is so serious right now. 00:03:52.760 --> 00:03:59.150 align:middle line:84% Orwell warned us about this, and Eisenhower warned us 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:02.570 align:middle line:84% about the growing military industrial complex. 00:04:02.570 --> 00:04:04.730 align:middle line:84% And those two things are hand in hand 00:04:04.730 --> 00:04:06.980 align:middle line:84% right now, the Newspeak, getting us 00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:11.992 align:middle line:84% to regurgitate the language of the latest products of the war 00:04:11.992 --> 00:04:13.325 align:middle line:90% machine that are killing people. 00:04:13.325 --> 00:04:19.089 align:middle line:90% 00:04:19.089 --> 00:04:21.589 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I was going to show you another video, but never mind. 00:04:21.589 --> 00:04:25.250 align:middle line:90% 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:26.870 align:middle line:90% I saw a drone. 00:04:26.870 --> 00:04:31.730 align:middle line:84% I was in Marfa, Texas two months, 00:04:31.730 --> 00:04:33.630 align:middle line:84% just recently, before coming here. 00:04:33.630 --> 00:04:37.255 align:middle line:84% And a friend of mine showed me this cave 00:04:37.255 --> 00:04:38.630 align:middle line:84% that I had trouble finding again. 00:04:38.630 --> 00:04:40.172 align:middle line:84% But then I wound up finding it again. 00:04:40.172 --> 00:04:43.190 align:middle line:84% It's deep in the desert, and it has ancient cave paintings. 00:04:43.190 --> 00:04:46.520 align:middle line:84% And I loved hanging out in this cave so much. 00:04:46.520 --> 00:04:49.130 align:middle line:84% And I had a little film of the cave to show you, 00:04:49.130 --> 00:04:51.680 align:middle line:84% but if you want, I can give you the link. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:52.550 align:middle line:90% It's online. 00:04:52.550 --> 00:04:53.790 align:middle line:90% So you can see it yourself. 00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:55.280 align:middle line:84% And I was meditating on the cave, 00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:57.800 align:middle line:84% and the javelinas would be hanging out. 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.190 align:middle line:84% And I met this really bizarre guy. 00:05:01.190 --> 00:05:02.180 align:middle line:90% Who am I to talk? 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:04.910 align:middle line:90% But he said he wanted to have-- 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:09.590 align:middle line:84% he said, well, I want to make out with you at the cave 00:05:09.590 --> 00:05:12.320 align:middle line:84% that you go to, but it's a spiritual thing. 00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:13.520 align:middle line:90% I said, yeah, whatever. 00:05:13.520 --> 00:05:14.090 align:middle line:90% It's like-- 00:05:14.090 --> 00:05:16.170 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHING] 00:05:16.170 --> 00:05:18.390 align:middle line:84% --I think about sex the way Thoreau did walking. 00:05:18.390 --> 00:05:19.470 align:middle line:90% Everything's holy ground. 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:20.250 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:21.510 align:middle line:90% So it's fine. 00:05:21.510 --> 00:05:22.530 align:middle line:90% So we're up there. 00:05:22.530 --> 00:05:24.480 align:middle line:84% We're having fun watching the sunset. 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.720 align:middle line:84% And the javelinas come in, and they were stomping their feet. 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.980 align:middle line:84% And I didn't know whether it was they were angry 00:05:31.980 --> 00:05:34.530 align:middle line:84% that we were there, or celebrating, because I 00:05:34.530 --> 00:05:38.280 align:middle line:84% don't have a window into the soul of the javelina. 00:05:38.280 --> 00:05:44.610 align:middle line:84% But it was kind of exciting, and we're sitting there, 00:05:44.610 --> 00:05:46.770 align:middle line:90% and we hear this buzzing. 00:05:46.770 --> 00:05:51.150 align:middle line:84% And, well, Texas is one of five states, currently, 00:05:51.150 --> 00:05:55.450 align:middle line:84% that is using drones on a pilot test basis. 00:05:55.450 --> 00:05:57.060 align:middle line:90% So, yeah, we saw a drone. 00:05:57.060 --> 00:05:58.380 align:middle line:90% It was really creepy. 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:02.250 align:middle line:84% And they claim to be using them for border patrol or whatever. 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:04.275 align:middle line:84% But it was disturbing to see this drone. 00:06:04.275 --> 00:06:08.080 align:middle line:90% 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:09.880 align:middle line:84% I'm sorry, the javelina-- this is 00:06:09.880 --> 00:06:13.690 align:middle line:90% the story about seeing a drone. 00:06:13.690 --> 00:06:18.100 align:middle line:84% I can't do anything else about it but tell you. 00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:21.250 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read a couple of pieces 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:25.030 align:middle line:84% from this chapbook that's for sale, just a couple. 00:06:25.030 --> 00:06:29.140 align:middle line:84% This is pieces that I wrote in Wyoming a couple of years ago, 00:06:29.140 --> 00:06:31.780 align:middle line:90% at this place called Ucross. 00:06:31.780 --> 00:06:35.830 align:middle line:84% They accepted my application to go there and make 00:06:35.830 --> 00:06:39.040 align:middle line:84% my own constellations, and then build mythologies 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:43.462 align:middle line:84% around my constellations, and then write poems out of it. 00:06:43.462 --> 00:06:44.920 align:middle line:84% I'm not going to read the exercise. 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.130 align:middle line:84% That's all you need to know, except that, also, 00:06:48.130 --> 00:06:52.270 align:middle line:84% I turned the process of editing into my own, 00:06:52.270 --> 00:06:55.420 align:middle line:84% where I was infusing fruit with music 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:58.060 align:middle line:90% by playing a track from Missy-- 00:06:58.060 --> 00:07:01.840 align:middle line:84% I don't know if you know, but there's this amazing composer 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:03.190 align:middle line:90% named Missy Mazzoli. 00:07:03.190 --> 00:07:07.200 align:middle line:90% And her CD from her-- 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:09.840 align:middle line:90% she calls it a band, Victoire-- 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:11.007 align:middle line:90% is called Cathedral City. 00:07:11.007 --> 00:07:12.840 align:middle line:84% So I was infusing a piece of fruit every day 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:15.540 align:middle line:84% and then eating it to eat her song, and then writing. 00:07:15.540 --> 00:07:19.170 align:middle line:84% And there weren't any other poets there. 00:07:19.170 --> 00:07:20.880 align:middle line:90% Everybody else was a novelist. 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:22.530 align:middle line:90% And I guess-- 00:07:22.530 --> 00:07:24.000 align:middle line:84% I mean, they're nice people, but-- 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:25.148 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:07:25.148 --> 00:07:26.940 align:middle line:84% --they would sit around at the dinner table 00:07:26.940 --> 00:07:29.400 align:middle line:90% and brag about their word count. 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:32.370 align:middle line:90% And it just seemed silly to me. 00:07:32.370 --> 00:07:36.525 align:middle line:84% And very competitive about that word count, it was so silly. 00:07:36.525 --> 00:07:37.260 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:07:37.260 --> 00:07:42.520 align:middle line:84% I was having a great time getting rid of words, frankly. 00:07:42.520 --> 00:07:46.192 align:middle line:84% And so I-- they would see me out there at the night, 00:07:46.192 --> 00:07:48.150 align:middle line:84% looking at the stars, making my constellations, 00:07:48.150 --> 00:07:50.525 align:middle line:84% and writing and writing and writing and writing, writing. 00:07:50.525 --> 00:07:53.490 align:middle line:84% So for instance, OK, so this poem here, this skinny poem, 00:07:53.490 --> 00:07:55.740 align:middle line:84% the first one that I'm going to read to you right now, 00:07:55.740 --> 00:08:00.810 align:middle line:84% this came from 13 and 1/2 pages of single-spaced 8 and 1/2 00:08:00.810 --> 00:08:03.270 align:middle line:84% by 11 pages of just writing and writing and writing. 00:08:03.270 --> 00:08:07.125 align:middle line:84% And then I just scrape away all of the excrescence. 00:08:07.125 --> 00:08:10.770 align:middle line:90% 00:08:10.770 --> 00:08:13.260 align:middle line:84% Yeah, they thought it was just appalling that I threw away 00:08:13.260 --> 00:08:14.790 align:middle line:90% words, but it was like-- 00:08:14.790 --> 00:08:18.032 align:middle line:90% 00:08:18.032 --> 00:08:18.990 align:middle line:90% they were nice, though. 00:08:18.990 --> 00:08:20.163 align:middle line:90% OK, anyway. 00:08:20.163 --> 00:08:23.550 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:08:23.550 --> 00:08:25.980 align:middle line:90% So this poem is titled-- 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:27.900 align:middle line:90% so I made 18 constellations. 00:08:27.900 --> 00:08:29.880 align:middle line:84% And for each constellation, there's a poem. 00:08:29.880 --> 00:08:32.360 align:middle line:90% So that's what this chapbook is.