WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.080 align:middle line:90%
Let's see, a pantoum.

00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:07.880 align:middle line:84%
A form-- many of you will know--
in which lines are repeated

00:00:07.880 --> 00:00:09.320 align:middle line:90%
from one stanza to the next.

00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:14.780 align:middle line:90%


00:00:14.780 --> 00:00:17.030 align:middle line:84%
I cheat and change
them a little as I go.

00:00:17.030 --> 00:00:26.520 align:middle line:90%


00:00:26.520 --> 00:00:28.620 align:middle line:84%
This one is titled
"Children," and the title

00:00:28.620 --> 00:00:30.750 align:middle line:90%
runs into the first sentence.

00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:32.220 align:middle line:90%
"Children--"

00:00:32.220 --> 00:00:36.180 align:middle line:84%
"--long outwardly,
others can see it.

00:00:36.180 --> 00:00:39.870 align:middle line:84%
They desire so much,
even erotically.

00:00:39.870 --> 00:00:43.230 align:middle line:84%
So a boy begins to walk
across a frozen lake.

00:00:43.230 --> 00:00:45.030 align:middle line:84%
There are places in
his life, he thinks,

00:00:45.030 --> 00:00:47.400 align:middle line:90%
that won't support the weight.

00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:50.070 align:middle line:90%
Though not so much erotically.

00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.190 align:middle line:84%
He is thinking about moral
matters, the places in his life

00:00:53.190 --> 00:00:55.170 align:middle line:84%
that don't support
the weight of his need

00:00:55.170 --> 00:00:58.200 align:middle line:90%
to understand what is right.

00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.600 align:middle line:84%
He is thinking about moral
matters because of a fight

00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:02.970 align:middle line:90%
he picked after school.

00:01:02.970 --> 00:01:04.769 align:middle line:84%
He needs to understand
what is right

00:01:04.769 --> 00:01:08.670 align:middle line:84%
given his joy, like a bird
taking flight, and his regret,

00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:11.880 align:middle line:84%
all intermixed during
the fight after school.

00:01:11.880 --> 00:01:15.960 align:middle line:84%
He tries distractions, a video
game, an adventure movie.

00:01:15.960 --> 00:01:18.540 align:middle line:84%
He enters the joys
and regrets of others,

00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:20.970 align:middle line:84%
taking flight from
the thrill of blood

00:01:20.970 --> 00:01:23.250 align:middle line:90%
that had filled his mouth.

00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:26.580 align:middle line:84%
The distractions, a video
game, an adventure movie,

00:01:26.580 --> 00:01:30.090 align:middle line:84%
convince him he must speak to
no one about the taste of blood

00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:31.770 align:middle line:90%
in his mouth.

00:01:31.770 --> 00:01:35.520 align:middle line:84%
It'll be the secret fire
that defines me, he thinks.

00:01:35.520 --> 00:01:37.320 align:middle line:84%
Convinced he must
speak to no one,

00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:40.710 align:middle line:84%
he undertakes the construction
of a new face, a shield

00:01:40.710 --> 00:01:43.860 align:middle line:84%
for this secret fire
that defines him,

00:01:43.860 --> 00:01:48.900 align:middle line:84%
his demeanor indirect, a
sentence that meanders.

00:01:48.900 --> 00:01:51.090 align:middle line:84%
He undertakes the
construction of his face

00:01:51.090 --> 00:01:54.240 align:middle line:84%
as he would a walk across
a frozen lake, his path

00:01:54.240 --> 00:01:57.570 align:middle line:84%
meandering, indirect,
like a sentence that

00:01:57.570 --> 00:02:01.290 align:middle line:84%
betrays no outward
longing, so that others

00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:03.980 align:middle line:90%
won't recognize his desires."

00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:06.000 align:middle line:90%