WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.550 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:00:00.550 --> 00:00:01.050 align:middle line:90% Hello. 00:00:01.050 --> 00:00:02.520 align:middle line:90% Can you all hear me? 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:04.720 align:middle line:84% I think we have a mic control there, 00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:06.510 align:middle line:90% so I don't have to worry. 00:00:06.510 --> 00:00:09.240 align:middle line:84% Thank you to the Poetry Center for having me, and Hannah 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:11.880 align:middle line:90% for that intro. 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:13.910 align:middle line:84% And thank you all for being here. 00:00:13.910 --> 00:00:16.583 align:middle line:84% I've just got a few poems for you, and a lot of water 00:00:16.583 --> 00:00:18.375 align:middle line:84% that I'll be drinking, because I'm anxious. 00:00:18.375 --> 00:00:23.200 align:middle line:90% 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:28.750 align:middle line:84% All right, this first one is about football, surprisingly. 00:00:28.750 --> 00:00:33.040 align:middle line:84% It's called "Confessions of a Teenage Linebacker." 00:00:33.040 --> 00:00:35.560 align:middle line:84% Coach says I've got to hit harder. 00:00:35.560 --> 00:00:38.620 align:middle line:84% He guides my hands around the runner's waist. 00:00:38.620 --> 00:00:42.250 align:middle line:84% If I can take another boy down with his own dumbstruck hips, 00:00:42.250 --> 00:00:45.280 align:middle line:90% I'll be goddamn unstoppable. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:48.250 align:middle line:84% Johnny doesn't flinch when my hand slips horse collar 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:50.950 align:middle line:90% between his skin and jersey. 00:00:50.950 --> 00:00:53.530 align:middle line:84% A yellow flag flits from the mock ref's hands, 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:54.700 align:middle line:90% and I'm on my back. 00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:59.200 align:middle line:84% Johnny too, his legs right over mine, a whole halo of helmets 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.300 align:middle line:90% closing in above us. 00:01:01.300 --> 00:01:04.540 align:middle line:84% What I want must be real dangerous. 00:01:04.540 --> 00:01:08.290 align:middle line:84% My job is to take in the field, to measure each movement 00:01:08.290 --> 00:01:10.450 align:middle line:90% and decide who's the risk. 00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:14.020 align:middle line:84% "Quick thinking," coach says, "quicker feet." 00:01:14.020 --> 00:01:16.480 align:middle line:84% Sometimes I do things before my brain can even 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.160 align:middle line:90% know what's what. 00:01:18.160 --> 00:01:20.830 align:middle line:84% Other times it's like I'm bracing for a chop-block 00:01:20.830 --> 00:01:23.530 align:middle line:84% headed my way, only I can't dodge or do anything 00:01:23.530 --> 00:01:26.050 align:middle line:90% but think about it. 00:01:26.050 --> 00:01:28.150 align:middle line:90% Possibility, I guess. 00:01:28.150 --> 00:01:31.080 align:middle line:90% That's my position. 00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:34.710 align:middle line:84% Johnny didn't flinch, but you'd think he would. 00:01:34.710 --> 00:01:37.980 align:middle line:84% He's still as the center tucks the ball through taut thighs 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:40.710 align:middle line:84% right into Johnny's waiting hands. 00:01:40.710 --> 00:01:42.750 align:middle line:84% I'm stuck on the sidelines, but I'm 00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:46.530 align:middle line:84% thinking how I want to lick the backs of Johnny's knees. 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:49.080 align:middle line:84% I think so hard I swear he hears me. 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:49.950 align:middle line:90% A fumble. 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:53.130 align:middle line:84% The ball lost in a tangle of bodies. 00:01:53.130 --> 00:01:56.040 align:middle line:84% Coach says I've got to be the barrel and the bullet. 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:59.820 align:middle line:84% When the trench boys blitz I need to fill each gap. 00:01:59.820 --> 00:02:01.950 align:middle line:84% I'm only one person, but coach says 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:04.050 align:middle line:90% I've got to act like I'm more-- 00:02:04.050 --> 00:02:06.360 align:middle line:90% the force of five, at least. 00:02:06.360 --> 00:02:09.090 align:middle line:84% He's got me practicing with the heaviest sleds, 00:02:09.090 --> 00:02:12.360 align:middle line:84% so when I finally come up against someone Johnny's size, 00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:16.100 align:middle line:84% he'll feel lighter than the football pressed between us.