WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.140 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.140 --> 00:00:03.323 align:middle line:84%
I think my grandmother
would have.

00:00:03.323 --> 00:00:04.740 align:middle line:84%
She knew what that
poem was about,

00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:09.007 align:middle line:84%
but she also wanted
to go to Paris.

00:00:09.007 --> 00:00:10.590 align:middle line:84%
The first time I
finally got to Paris,

00:00:10.590 --> 00:00:14.070 align:middle line:84%
I thought, yeah, she
would have fit right in.

00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:17.280 align:middle line:84%
There are certain
women, particularly

00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:18.660 align:middle line:90%
the women from the islands--

00:00:18.660 --> 00:00:21.630 align:middle line:90%
from Réunion, from Martinique--

00:00:21.630 --> 00:00:24.510 align:middle line:84%
they know how to
own the sidewalk,

00:00:24.510 --> 00:00:26.970 align:middle line:90%
let's put it that way.

00:00:26.970 --> 00:00:29.770 align:middle line:90%
The Island Women of Paris.

00:00:29.770 --> 00:00:32.910 align:middle line:84%
"Skim from curb to
curb like regatta,

00:00:32.910 --> 00:00:36.690 align:middle line:84%
from Pont Neuf to the Quai de la
Rappe in cool negotiation with

00:00:36.690 --> 00:00:41.400 align:middle line:84%
traffic, each a country to
herself transposed to the city

00:00:41.400 --> 00:00:45.630 align:middle line:84%
by a fluke called
'imperial courtesy.'

00:00:45.630 --> 00:00:48.180 align:middle line:84%
The island women
glide past, held aloft

00:00:48.180 --> 00:00:51.450 align:middle line:84%
by a wire running
straight to heaven.

00:00:51.450 --> 00:00:54.300 align:middle line:84%
Who can ignore their
ornamental bearing,

00:00:54.300 --> 00:00:58.260 align:middle line:84%
turbans haughty as
parrots, or deft braids

00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:01.440 align:middle line:84%
carved into airy
cages, transfixed

00:01:01.440 --> 00:01:04.170 align:middle line:90%
on their manifest brows?

00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.510 align:middle line:84%
The island women
move through Paris

00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:11.430 align:middle line:84%
as if they had just finished
inventing their destinations.

00:01:11.430 --> 00:01:14.880 align:middle line:84%
It's better not to
get in their way.

00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:18.240 align:middle line:84%
And better not look at an
island woman in the eye--

00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:21.240 align:middle line:84%
unless you like
feeling unnecessary."

00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:23.090 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]