WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.860 align:middle line:90%
So I thought that was done.

00:00:01.860 --> 00:00:04.470 align:middle line:90%
But there's so much going on.

00:00:04.470 --> 00:00:09.060 align:middle line:84%
And I mean, we could talk
about this in terms of process.

00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:10.680 align:middle line:84%
But I think, again,
and it's so great

00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:13.590 align:middle line:84%
to have this under the
rubric of spectacle.

00:00:13.590 --> 00:00:15.725 align:middle line:84%
Because then, I thought,
well, is that enough?

00:00:15.725 --> 00:00:17.850 align:middle line:84%
When you think about
something like that happening,

00:00:17.850 --> 00:00:19.590 align:middle line:84%
is it enough to
turn to metaphor?

00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:23.700 align:middle line:84%
It seems like looking
away is inappropriate.

00:00:23.700 --> 00:00:28.510 align:middle line:84%
So then, I wrote a poem called
"A Poem that does Nothing."

00:00:28.510 --> 00:00:29.760 align:middle line:90%
And this is not the main poem.

00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.549 align:middle line:84%
These are just scraps on the way
to our conversation, I guess.

00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:34.290 align:middle line:84%
So I haven't gotten
to the Ai poem yet.

00:00:34.290 --> 00:00:38.910 align:middle line:84%
But this is "A Poem
that does Nothing."

00:00:38.910 --> 00:00:43.080 align:middle line:84%
After their deaths, the Black
men, women, and children,

00:00:43.080 --> 00:00:45.960 align:middle line:84%
I wanted to sing the
song I'd heard once

00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:50.670 align:middle line:84%
about men killing a poor old
horse in a tanner's yard.

00:00:50.670 --> 00:00:54.420 align:middle line:84%
Except, I wanted to make
the horse a small black bird

00:00:54.420 --> 00:00:56.910 align:middle line:90%
and the men a white child.

00:00:56.910 --> 00:01:00.840 align:middle line:84%
And I wanted to sing it
before American ears.

00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:03.390 align:middle line:84%
After singing
Black Lives Matter,

00:01:03.390 --> 00:01:07.260 align:middle line:84%
Black Lives Matter, in the
end, I couldn't articulate,

00:01:07.260 --> 00:01:10.440 align:middle line:90%
not to mention sing, much more.

00:01:10.440 --> 00:01:12.330 align:middle line:90%
My voice cracked.

00:01:12.330 --> 00:01:16.320 align:middle line:84%
I sang the words with fear
or some adjacent feeling.

00:01:16.320 --> 00:01:20.400 align:middle line:84%
The small black bird beneath
the stone, the small white boy

00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:24.600 align:middle line:84%
slammed down made the sound
of a human voice in the field

00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:25.950 align:middle line:90%
beyond his house.

00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:28.020 align:middle line:90%
And my voice cracked.

00:01:28.020 --> 00:01:30.450 align:middle line:84%
But what I wanted
to ask is whether it

00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:35.190 align:middle line:84%
matters whether it is a poor
old horse or a blackbird,

00:01:35.190 --> 00:01:38.190 align:middle line:84%
whether the men are a
little more than boys,

00:01:38.190 --> 00:01:41.040 align:middle line:84%
whether their parents
were too kind or too cruel

00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:45.000 align:middle line:84%
with them, whether some mean
or indifferent Black person

00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.690 align:middle line:90%
threatened or abuse them?

00:01:47.690 --> 00:01:50.450 align:middle line:84%
I can't think of any stories
about adult Blacks bringing

00:01:50.450 --> 00:01:52.220 align:middle line:84%
harm to white
children, though, I

00:01:52.220 --> 00:01:54.260 align:middle line:90%
suppose it could have happened.

00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:59.000 align:middle line:84%
Anything is possible after one
has lived for a little while.

00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:01.160 align:middle line:84%
And after a white
boy turns his gun

00:02:01.160 --> 00:02:03.620 align:middle line:84%
on a room full of
children in the north,

00:02:03.620 --> 00:02:09.669 align:middle line:84%
and then upon himself, I suppose
you have to assume God is wild.

00:02:09.669 --> 00:02:12.670 align:middle line:84%
I wanted to know whether you
think it matters whether it's

00:02:12.670 --> 00:02:16.780 align:middle line:84%
a horse or Blacks in the south,
whether it's elementary school

00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:19.660 align:middle line:84%
children in the north
or a small black bird,

00:02:19.660 --> 00:02:22.900 align:middle line:84%
whether madness, grief,
stupidity, or fear,

00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:26.740 align:middle line:84%
or some adjacent feeling
comes before violence.

00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:28.780 align:middle line:84%
After trying to talk
about it, I want

00:02:28.780 --> 00:02:31.500 align:middle line:90%
to sing for a little while.

00:02:31.500 --> 00:02:32.000 align:middle line:90%