WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.780 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.780 --> 00:00:03.930 align:middle line:84% So many people last week asked me 00:00:03.930 --> 00:00:07.440 align:middle line:90% if I was nervous about reading. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.080 align:middle line:90% And I am. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:15.060 align:middle line:84% When you're a poet, unlike most sports, 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:18.870 align:middle line:90% you tend to lose the home games. 00:00:18.870 --> 00:00:20.880 align:middle line:84% Too many people know you for who you are. 00:00:20.880 --> 00:00:23.710 align:middle line:90% 00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:27.865 align:middle line:84% So I suffered a crisis of confidence. 00:00:27.865 --> 00:00:35.880 align:middle line:84% And I almost literally thought of doing the things that 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:42.420 align:middle line:84% would normally be done by Lois for me to myself or for myself. 00:00:42.420 --> 00:00:44.820 align:middle line:84% Like go out to the airport and meet myself, 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:48.930 align:middle line:84% and talk about how lovely the weather 00:00:48.930 --> 00:00:51.660 align:middle line:84% here is compared with Saskatchewan 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:52.980 align:middle line:90% or wherever I come from. 00:00:52.980 --> 00:00:56.820 align:middle line:84% And make the rounds at the Desert Museum 00:00:56.820 --> 00:01:00.450 align:middle line:84% where they have a plaque below us on the wall, 00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:05.670 align:middle line:90% 1001 poets pass through. 00:01:05.670 --> 00:01:09.750 align:middle line:84% Go to Old Peking and be sorry about how much ginger 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:12.630 align:middle line:90% is in the food. 00:01:12.630 --> 00:01:15.485 align:middle line:84% And buy half a gallon of bourbon and take 00:01:15.485 --> 00:01:16.860 align:middle line:84% a little nap in the Poetry Center 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:18.720 align:middle line:90% before the [CHUCKLES] reading. 00:01:18.720 --> 00:01:21.750 align:middle line:90% 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:25.050 align:middle line:84% And then begin the reading by saying 00:01:25.050 --> 00:01:30.060 align:middle line:84% this is, of course, the official poetry reading of the 1984 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:30.735 align:middle line:90% Winter Olympics. 00:01:30.735 --> 00:01:33.750 align:middle line:90% 00:01:33.750 --> 00:01:39.750 align:middle line:84% But, instead, we were getting our sumptuous meal of pizza 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:41.130 align:middle line:90% before the reading. 00:01:41.130 --> 00:01:43.005 align:middle line:90% My son went down-- 00:01:43.005 --> 00:01:48.420 align:middle line:84% he's on University-- to Zips to play video games. 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:50.760 align:middle line:84% When we went down to pick him up, 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:54.150 align:middle line:84% I saw what I needed down there, a friend, so I brought him. 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:56.830 align:middle line:90% 00:01:56.830 --> 00:02:00.150 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:02:00.150 --> 00:02:00.650 align:middle line:90% 00:02:00.650 --> 00:02:01.150 align:middle line:90% Right? 00:02:01.150 --> 00:02:12.540 align:middle line:90% 00:02:12.540 --> 00:02:14.910 align:middle line:84% The problem is one of familiarity 00:02:14.910 --> 00:02:18.030 align:middle line:90% when you really get home so-- 00:02:18.030 --> 00:02:20.220 align:middle line:90% isn't this a great prop? 00:02:20.220 --> 00:02:23.605 align:middle line:84% When you go to-- this is Bruce Cohen, a former MFA student. 00:02:23.605 --> 00:02:28.890 align:middle line:90% 00:02:28.890 --> 00:02:32.190 align:middle line:84% When you go into Zips, tell them Eddie sent you, OK? 00:02:32.190 --> 00:02:35.250 align:middle line:84% They were nice enough to loan this to me. 00:02:35.250 --> 00:02:39.870 align:middle line:84% In about three weeks I'm going east to do readings. 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:42.242 align:middle line:84% And I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have 00:02:42.242 --> 00:02:43.200 align:middle line:90% a prop for the reading? 00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:44.867 align:middle line:84% Wouldn't it be nice to bring this along? 00:02:44.867 --> 00:02:50.160 align:middle line:84% Because, as I was bringing this down from my office upstairs, 00:02:50.160 --> 00:02:52.410 align:middle line:84% when I walked in, even though I knew it was there, 00:02:52.410 --> 00:02:55.020 align:middle line:84% it scared the hell out of me in my darkened office. 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:58.080 align:middle line:90% 00:02:58.080 --> 00:02:59.250 align:middle line:90% I immediately said, hi, bro. 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.310 align:middle line:90% 00:03:02.310 --> 00:03:05.700 align:middle line:84% I noticed it has this little flap in it. 00:03:05.700 --> 00:03:06.570 align:middle line:90% Now what it's for? 00:03:06.570 --> 00:03:07.200 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:11.910 align:middle line:84% But this would come in handy for different cities. 00:03:11.910 --> 00:03:24.500 align:middle line:84% This is like reading in New York or San Francisco. 00:03:24.500 --> 00:03:27.909 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:03:27.909 --> 00:03:41.080 align:middle line:90% 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:42.400 align:middle line:90% Now I can't, I can't. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:51.130 align:middle line:90% 00:03:51.130 --> 00:03:51.940 align:middle line:90% The Milky Way. 00:03:51.940 --> 00:03:55.680 align:middle line:90% 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:58.350 align:middle line:84% When I was a boy, the Milky Way floated just 00:03:58.350 --> 00:04:00.660 align:middle line:84% over the city of Boston, so I was 00:04:00.660 --> 00:04:03.810 align:middle line:84% lucky to live in that place, that house where 00:04:03.810 --> 00:04:07.860 align:middle line:84% my father lathered his face and like the moon went out, 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:12.750 align:middle line:84% came back, walking winter nights beneath the Milky Way. 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:18.660 align:middle line:84% A few thoughts, few fears, a way of sleeping through the night. 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:22.110 align:middle line:84% When my son lay sewn to the sheets, adrift 00:04:22.110 --> 00:04:26.790 align:middle line:84% in his diabetic coma among the blown, seductive stars, 00:04:26.790 --> 00:04:29.490 align:middle line:84% I could not think of anything to say, 00:04:29.490 --> 00:04:32.460 align:middle line:90% for he was not anywhere nearby. 00:04:32.460 --> 00:04:35.640 align:middle line:90% He said papa and came back. 00:04:35.640 --> 00:04:40.020 align:middle line:84% Tonight, in his play, he captains a sleek starship 00:04:40.020 --> 00:04:42.630 align:middle line:90% toward the Milky Way. 00:04:42.630 --> 00:04:45.270 align:middle line:84% When I was a boy, the city of Boston 00:04:45.270 --> 00:04:48.270 align:middle line:90% lay miles away within our sight. 00:04:48.270 --> 00:04:52.530 align:middle line:84% Evenings, we set our chairs upon the lawn and talked. 00:04:52.530 --> 00:04:56.550 align:middle line:84% Few thoughts, a way of watching until dark. 00:04:56.550 --> 00:05:00.510 align:middle line:84% Then as our small wickers floated through the night, 00:05:00.510 --> 00:05:03.810 align:middle line:84% I wished I might be taken away to live forever 00:05:03.810 --> 00:05:08.180 align:middle line:84% in that distant city made wholly of light.