WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.670 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.670 --> 00:00:05.310 align:middle line:84%
And towards the
end of the 1960s,

00:00:05.310 --> 00:00:10.280 align:middle line:84%
I begun doing those
big blue books

00:00:10.280 --> 00:00:14.480 align:middle line:84%
that I think people know
me by best, Technicians

00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.780 align:middle line:84%
of the Sacred the
first of them, and then

00:00:18.780 --> 00:00:26.930 align:middle line:84%
decided to explore
ancestral sources of my own

00:00:26.930 --> 00:00:30.800 align:middle line:84%
in a world of Jewish
mystics, thieves, and madmen.

00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.700 align:middle line:90%


00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:41.400 align:middle line:84%
So a series of poems
called "Poland 1931."

00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:45.300 align:middle line:84%
I was born in Brooklyn,
my parents from Poland.

00:00:45.300 --> 00:00:49.930 align:middle line:90%
1931 was the year of my birth.

00:00:49.930 --> 00:00:59.650 align:middle line:84%
And some years after I wrote
the poem that opens the book,

00:00:59.650 --> 00:01:02.620 align:middle line:84%
a man named Amos
Schaus translated it

00:01:02.620 --> 00:01:06.920 align:middle line:84%
into Yiddish, which some
people thought was the original

00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:10.664 align:middle line:84%
and that I had been
translated into English.

00:01:10.664 --> 00:01:11.600 align:middle line:90%
Not so.

00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:13.640 align:middle line:90%
Not so.

00:01:13.640 --> 00:01:18.830 align:middle line:84%
But I'll start with a few lines
from the Yiddish translation

00:01:18.830 --> 00:01:20.450 align:middle line:90%
"Poland 1931."

00:01:20.450 --> 00:01:23.420 align:middle line:84%
"The Wedding" is what
it is in English.

00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:31.564 align:middle line:84%
Polyn 1931, Di Khaseneh.
mayn miyakh iz ongeshtopt mit

00:01:31.564 --> 00:01:35.708 align:middle line:84%
tishtekher un mit fingerlekh
ober mayn miyakh kholemt fun

00:01:35.708 --> 00:01:40.836 align:middle line:84%
poyln ongeshtopt mit poyln
in dimiyen gebrakht tsu

00:01:40.836 --> 00:01:44.996 align:middle line:84%
a shvartseh khaseneh a naketer
khosn shvebt iber zayn naketeh

00:01:44.996 --> 00:01:48.124 align:middle line:84%
kaleh metirifdikeh poyln vi
shreklekh dayneh yidn oyf

00:01:48.124 --> 00:01:52.252 align:middle line:84%
khasenehs dayneh shulen mit
kamfer reykhehs un mandlen

00:01:52.252 --> 00:01:55.348 align:middle line:84%
dayneh termosen dayneh
elektrishe tumanen

00:01:55.348 --> 00:01:59.492 align:middle line:84%
[SPEAKING YIDDISH] dayneh untervesh lebedik mit

00:01:59.492 --> 00:02:06.000 align:middle line:84%
vurtseln oy poyln poyln
poyln poyln poyln poyln

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:11.170 align:middle line:90%
Poland 1931, The Wedding.

00:02:11.170 --> 00:02:15.250 align:middle line:84%
My mind is stuffed with
tablecloths and with rings,

00:02:15.250 --> 00:02:19.750 align:middle line:84%
but my mind is dreaming of
Poland stuffed with Poland,

00:02:19.750 --> 00:02:23.110 align:middle line:84%
brought in the imagination
to a black wedding,

00:02:23.110 --> 00:02:26.710 align:middle line:84%
a naked bridegroom hovering
above his naked bride.

00:02:26.710 --> 00:02:29.740 align:middle line:84%
Mad Poland, how
terrible thy Jews

00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:33.730 align:middle line:84%
at weddings, thy synagogues
with camphor smells and almonds,

00:02:33.730 --> 00:02:38.040 align:middle line:84%
thy thermoses, thy electric
fogs, thy braided armpits,

00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:40.300 align:middle line:90%
thy underwear alive with roots.

00:02:40.300 --> 00:02:41.980 align:middle line:90%
O, Poland.

00:02:41.980 --> 00:02:45.790 align:middle line:84%
Poland, Poland,
Poland, Poland, Poland.

00:02:45.790 --> 00:02:48.520 align:middle line:84%
How thy bells wrapped
in their flowers toll.

00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:51.280 align:middle line:84%
How they offer up their
tongues to kiss the moon,

00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.950 align:middle line:84%
old moon, old mother
stuck in thy sky,

00:02:53.950 --> 00:02:56.860 align:middle line:84%
thyself an old doll with
no tongue, a lost art.

00:02:56.860 --> 00:02:58.810 align:middle line:90%
O, Poland.

00:02:58.810 --> 00:03:01.660 align:middle line:84%
Thy beer is ever made
of rotting bread.

00:03:01.660 --> 00:03:03.490 align:middle line:90%
Thy silks are linens merely.

00:03:03.490 --> 00:03:06.850 align:middle line:84%
Thy tradesmen dance at weddings
where fanatic grooms still

00:03:06.850 --> 00:03:08.410 align:middle line:90%
dream of bridesmaids.

00:03:08.410 --> 00:03:12.910 align:middle line:84%
Still are screaming past
their red mustaches, Poland.

00:03:12.910 --> 00:03:16.210 align:middle line:84%
We have lain awake in
thy soft arms forever.

00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:18.340 align:middle line:84%
Thy feathers have
been balm to us,

00:03:18.340 --> 00:03:22.030 align:middle line:84%
thy pillows capture us like
sickly wombs and guard us.

00:03:22.030 --> 00:03:24.910 align:middle line:84%
Let us sail through life,
fierce weddings, Poland.

00:03:24.910 --> 00:03:27.790 align:middle line:84%
Let us dread thy markets
where thy sausages grow

00:03:27.790 --> 00:03:32.080 align:middle line:84%
ripe and full, let us
bite thy peppercorns,

00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:36.070 align:middle line:84%
let thy oxins dung be
sugar to thy dying Jews.

00:03:36.070 --> 00:03:37.690 align:middle line:90%
O, Poland.

00:03:37.690 --> 00:03:41.650 align:middle line:84%
Oh sweet, resourceful,
restless Poland.

00:03:41.650 --> 00:03:44.350 align:middle line:84%
O, Poland of the saints,
unbuttoned Poland,

00:03:44.350 --> 00:03:47.380 align:middle line:84%
repeating endlessly the
triple names of Mary.

00:03:47.380 --> 00:03:51.820 align:middle line:84%
Poland, Poland,
Poland, Poland, Poland.

00:03:51.820 --> 00:03:53.890 align:middle line:84%
Have we not tired
of thee, Poland.

00:03:53.890 --> 00:03:57.880 align:middle line:84%
No, for thy cheeses shall never
tire us, nor the honey of thy

00:03:57.880 --> 00:03:58.630 align:middle line:90%
goats.

00:03:58.630 --> 00:04:01.210 align:middle line:84%
Thy grooms shall
work ferociously

00:04:01.210 --> 00:04:03.310 align:middle line:90%
upon their looming brides.

00:04:03.310 --> 00:04:07.060 align:middle line:84%
Shall bring forth
executioners, shall

00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:11.080 align:middle line:84%
stand like kings
inside thy doorways,

00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:16.660 align:middle line:84%
shall throw their arms
around thy lintels, Poland,

00:04:16.660 --> 00:04:20.699 align:middle line:90%
and begin to crow.

00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:22.000 align:middle line:90%