WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.410 align:middle line:84%
This was a poem that also relies
on two lines of another poem.

00:00:07.410 --> 00:00:10.860 align:middle line:84%
In this case, it's really the
first two lines of his poem.

00:00:10.860 --> 00:00:13.500 align:middle line:84%
It's not a nice thing to do
to just take the first two

00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.650 align:middle line:84%
lines of someone's poem
and rewrite it for them,

00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:19.500 align:middle line:84%
but I was driven to do
that because I thought

00:00:19.500 --> 00:00:22.050 align:middle line:84%
this poem needed to be
updated, or changed,

00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:23.730 align:middle line:90%
or revised in some way.

00:00:23.730 --> 00:00:30.330 align:middle line:84%
Because this poet who will
not be named right now was--

00:00:30.330 --> 00:00:32.610 align:middle line:84%
I looked at the
contributor's notes

00:00:32.610 --> 00:00:35.760 align:middle line:84%
after I'd stolen his
first lines and it just

00:00:35.760 --> 00:00:37.312 align:middle line:84%
said that he lives
in Belgium, which

00:00:37.312 --> 00:00:38.520 align:middle line:90%
I thought that's safe enough.

00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:39.980 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:00:39.980 --> 00:00:40.480 align:middle line:90%


00:00:40.480 --> 00:00:43.420 align:middle line:90%
[INAUDIBLE]

00:00:43.420 --> 00:00:49.270 align:middle line:84%
But he wrote this love poem and
it's based on the assumption

00:00:49.270 --> 00:00:53.500 align:middle line:84%
that the thing that
really drives women crazy

00:00:53.500 --> 00:00:57.640 align:middle line:84%
is if you compare them to
things like stars, or trees,

00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:01.690 align:middle line:84%
or running water, anything
in nature [INAUDIBLE]..

00:01:01.690 --> 00:01:05.650 align:middle line:84%
But women, they love similies
more than themselves.

00:01:05.650 --> 00:01:08.330 align:middle line:90%


00:01:08.330 --> 00:01:11.720 align:middle line:84%
So he begins his poem
by saying "beloved, you

00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:16.430 align:middle line:84%
are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.

00:01:16.430 --> 00:01:17.570 align:middle line:90%
"Litany."

00:01:17.570 --> 00:01:20.090 align:middle line:84%
"You are the bread and the
knife, the crystal goblet

00:01:20.090 --> 00:01:21.290 align:middle line:90%
and the wine.

00:01:21.290 --> 00:01:23.840 align:middle line:84%
You are the dew on
the morning grass

00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.000 align:middle line:84%
and the burning
wheel of the sun.

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.480 align:middle line:84%
You are the white apron of
the baker and the marsh bird

00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.980 align:middle line:90%
suddenly in his flight.

00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:34.950 align:middle line:84%
However, you are not
the wind of the orchard,

00:01:34.950 --> 00:01:36.950 align:middle line:84%
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.

00:01:36.950 --> 00:01:39.072 align:middle line:90%


00:01:39.072 --> 00:01:42.970 align:middle line:84%
And you are certainly
not pine-scented air.

00:01:42.970 --> 00:01:45.415 align:middle line:84%
There is no way you are
the pine-scented air.

00:01:45.415 --> 00:01:49.600 align:middle line:90%


00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:53.380 align:middle line:84%
It is possible that you are the
fish under the bridge, maybe

00:01:53.380 --> 00:01:57.285 align:middle line:84%
even the pigeon on
the general's head.

00:01:57.285 --> 00:02:00.185 align:middle line:84%
But you are not even close to
being the field of corn flowers

00:02:00.185 --> 00:02:02.582 align:middle line:90%
at dusk.

00:02:02.582 --> 00:02:06.340 align:middle line:84%
A quick look in the mirror
will show that you are neither

00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:11.360 align:middle line:84%
the boots in the corner or the
boat asleep in its boat house.

00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:14.710 align:middle line:84%
It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful

00:02:14.710 --> 00:02:20.260 align:middle line:84%
imagery of the world, that I am
the sound of rain on the roof.

00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:24.340 align:middle line:84%
I also happen to be a shooting
star, the evening paper flying

00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:28.720 align:middle line:84%
down an alley, and the basket of
chestnuts on the kitchen table,

00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:33.700 align:middle line:84%
and also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman's teacup.

00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:37.150 align:middle line:84%
But don't worry, I am not
the bread and the knife.

00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:40.120 align:middle line:84%
You are still the
bread and the knife.

00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:42.940 align:middle line:84%
You will always be the
bread and the knife.

00:02:42.940 --> 00:02:49.110 align:middle line:84%
Not to mention, the crystal
goblet and, somehow, the wine."

00:02:49.110 --> 00:02:51.860 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:51.860 --> 00:03:00.000 align:middle line:90%