WEBVTT

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Yeah, humanity,
it just makes you

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want to just flip over your
laptop and that kind of thing.

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So I have a series of these.

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There's one-star reviews
of the Great Wall of China,

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one-star review of
the pyramids, you just

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can't satisfy anybody
sometimes, so.

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I'm bringing something up here.

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I hope no one's eating
in the audience.

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As of right now, I was
told to give that warning.

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I think it's beautiful,
but I was also told--

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my husband told me, please,
please, give that warning.

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If you are squeamish with
insects, also just a heads up.

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I'm going to show you an
insect here, and yeah, great.

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Is there-- there's
probably-- can

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you all see that in
the back perhaps?

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Is there any way to dim
the light just a touch?

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Yeah.

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We already had it dimmed.

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I know, I know.

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Sure.

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Just as an intro to
this, Anne Sexton

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has an incredible collection
of bestiary poems.

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I think she doesn't get enough
credit for her bestiary poems,

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where she is just--

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I call her just
mistress of metaphor.

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She's just incredible
with how she can just

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slay you and realize you'll
never write a metaphor ever

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as nearly as good
as Anne Sexton.

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But she has a lot of bestiary
poems, which are poems

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addressing animals or
making fun of animals

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or criticizing animals.

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And there's one in particular.

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I heard just
recently that there's

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an insect festival
happening this weekend,

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is anybody going to
that insect festival?

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Oh fantastic, I will be there.

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And when one of my
hostesses asked,

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I don't know if you
happen to like insects?

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There might be an
insect festival.

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I was trying to have as
much chill as possible

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and saying, why yes, I might
like insects just a little bit.

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I'm going to show you
just a little clip.

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Anne Sexton wrote a poem
making fun and just not

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really being very
kind to the cockroach.

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And I love cockroaches,
which I know

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is a weird thing to
say, but specifically

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Madagascar cockroaches.

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The way they give birth
is unlike anything else

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in the insect world.

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They are mostly upside
down, and they give birth

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not to eggs but to
live cockroaches, who

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are white as you can see.

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And they eventually turn
the dark brown, black color

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shortly thereafter.

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So there's a lot of people
who keep them as pets.

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A few years ago,
just so you know,

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the Bronx Zoo was having
a special fundraiser.

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You could send a
valentine to somebody.

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Not the cockroach, because
they have a cockroach exhibit,

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but you can name one of
their Madagascar cockroaches

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from your loved one.

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So my husband knows that was
the greatest expression of love.

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There's a cockroach named
Dustin Parsons in the Bronx Zoo

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on behalf of that.

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So if we could just show
for just a little bit,

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how do we do that?

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Do you want the sound on or no?

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Oh no, I think.

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I just wanted you to
give a 10-second glimpse

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of what happens here.

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OK, great.

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I think it's beautiful, and
it's like a blossoming, I think.

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People keep them as pets.

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They're actually
extremely clean.

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If you've ever seen
a cockroach exhibit

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at a zoo or something
like that, it's

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almost certainly it's
a Madagascar cockroach.

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And they're about maybe
4 to 5 inches long.

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What else?

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I just think it's
beautiful, and again,

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there's something so amazing
that-- you think of bugs,

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and you think of like, oh,
they lay eggs, and it's just--

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no.

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As you'll see, the ones
that are first born,

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they just start growing.

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The minute their
skin touches oxygen,

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they start the
process of turning

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the cockroach brown color.

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Anyway, that's the gist of it.

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The whole birth takes like
almost like a half hour,

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so I won't do that to you.

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Can we just pass it out?

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I wanted to get you a visual.

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So Anne Sexton has a poem
called "The Cockroach,"

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and it's basically just
saying you're so worthless

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on this planet,
that kind of thing.

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This is "The
Cockroach Responds,"

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and there's a small
little epigraph.

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This is from the
Anne Sexton poem.

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"And when I turn on the light,
you scuttle into the corners

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and there is this hiss upon
the land," Anne Sexton.

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Here's the cockroach's response.

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"But of course, you didn't stick
around for the bloom of babies.

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And whatever evil I
was given, I swallowed,

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which is more than I
can say for some women.

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It became a beautiful
swell in my side,

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and when my body could not
bear it, I stood on my head

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and offered myself up to the
lavender lining of the clouds.

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The world and all I know
would be, could be good again.

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I have another chance.

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My young will learn to
land safe, even though they

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can never sprout wings.

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I'll teach them the
fine trick of walking up

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jelly smeared aquarium glass.

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You can bet my
babies will always

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remember to watch out for
sticky tongue and sticky beaks."

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