WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.242 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.242 --> 00:00:02.070 align:middle line:90%
Quite a crowd.

00:00:02.070 --> 00:00:03.780 align:middle line:90%
It's great to see all of you.

00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:05.340 align:middle line:90%
And thank you, Gail.

00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:07.200 align:middle line:84%
The first poem she
read by Coleridge

00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:11.820 align:middle line:84%
is an excerpt of a poem that's
called "This Lime-tree Bower

00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:12.690 align:middle line:90%
my Prison."

00:00:12.690 --> 00:00:16.780 align:middle line:84%
And the question I would get
during question and answer

00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:19.440 align:middle line:84%
sessions, usually
at high schools,

00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.820 align:middle line:84%
would be what's
your favorite poem?

00:00:21.820 --> 00:00:27.510 align:middle line:84%
And I got tired of the 10-minute
explanation about the silliness

00:00:27.510 --> 00:00:30.630 align:middle line:90%
of ranking poems in favorites.

00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:33.600 align:middle line:84%
And I just decided I would
take "This Lime-tree Bower

00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:35.982 align:middle line:90%
my Prison" my favorite poem.

00:00:35.982 --> 00:00:37.911 align:middle line:90%
So, thanks for reading that one.

00:00:37.911 --> 00:00:41.520 align:middle line:90%


00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.320 align:middle line:84%
As far as Emily Dickinson,
you do find, as a writer,

00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:50.380 align:middle line:84%
that poets who are long dead
have started to imitate you.

00:00:50.380 --> 00:00:55.616 align:middle line:90%


00:00:55.616 --> 00:00:58.610 align:middle line:84%
This is typically known as
anticipatory plagiarism.

00:00:58.610 --> 00:01:03.250 align:middle line:90%


00:01:03.250 --> 00:01:05.310 align:middle line:84%
And speaking of
long-dead poets, it

00:01:05.310 --> 00:01:10.240 align:middle line:84%
was good to see their work
re-animated by these two

00:01:10.240 --> 00:01:12.730 align:middle line:90%
young students.

00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:16.270 align:middle line:84%
I've been accused by some
people of exhibiting a kind

00:01:16.270 --> 00:01:18.700 align:middle line:90%
of consciousness of a reader.

00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:22.630 align:middle line:84%
So if it's wrong to
write as a reader,

00:01:22.630 --> 00:01:24.438 align:middle line:90%
I don't want to be writing.

00:01:24.438 --> 00:01:26.230 align:middle line:84%
So I thought I'd start
with the poem that's

00:01:26.230 --> 00:01:29.180 align:middle line:90%
just addressed to the reader.

00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.870 align:middle line:90%
It's called "You, Reader."

00:01:31.870 --> 00:01:34.990 align:middle line:84%
I wonder how you are going
to feel when you find it out

00:01:34.990 --> 00:01:37.834 align:middle line:84%
that I wrote this
instead of you.

00:01:37.834 --> 00:01:41.260 align:middle line:84%
That it was I got up early
to sit in the kitchen

00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:45.670 align:middle line:84%
and mention with a pen the
rain-soaked windows, the ivy

00:01:45.670 --> 00:01:49.900 align:middle line:84%
wall paper, and the
goldfish circling its bowl.

00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:53.980 align:middle line:84%
Go ahead and turn aside, bite
your lip, and tear up the page.

00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:57.640 align:middle line:84%
But listen, it was just a
matter of time before one of us

00:01:57.640 --> 00:02:00.910 align:middle line:84%
happened to notice the
unlit candles and the clock

00:02:00.910 --> 00:02:02.500 align:middle line:90%
humming on the wall.

00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.930 align:middle line:84%
Plus, nothing
happened that morning,

00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:07.840 align:middle line:84%
a song on the radio,
a car whistling along

00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.639 align:middle line:90%
the road outside.

00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:13.450 align:middle line:84%
And I was only thinking about
the shakers of salt and pepper

00:02:13.450 --> 00:02:17.020 align:middle line:84%
that were standing side
by side on a place mat.

00:02:17.020 --> 00:02:21.300 align:middle line:84%
I wondered if they had become
friends after all these years

00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:24.030 align:middle line:84%
or if they were still
strangers to one another,

00:02:24.030 --> 00:02:26.130 align:middle line:84%
like you and I
have managed to be

00:02:26.130 --> 00:02:30.040 align:middle line:84%
known and unknown to each
other at the same time.

00:02:30.040 --> 00:02:32.880 align:middle line:84%
Me at this table
with a bowl of pears,

00:02:32.880 --> 00:02:36.190 align:middle line:84%
you leaning in a
doorway somewhere,

00:02:36.190 --> 00:02:41.010 align:middle line:84%
near some blue
hydrangeas, reading this.

00:02:41.010 --> 00:02:44.475 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:02:44.475 --> 00:02:48.440 align:middle line:90%


00:02:48.440 --> 00:02:51.530 align:middle line:84%
I did want to remind you of
how lucky you are to have

00:02:51.530 --> 00:02:53.850 align:middle line:90%
this amazing Poetry Center.

00:02:53.850 --> 00:02:56.190 align:middle line:84%
If you haven't been
there, you really must go.

00:02:56.190 --> 00:02:58.672 align:middle line:90%
It's amazing.

00:02:58.672 --> 00:03:01.600 align:middle line:90%


00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:03.250 align:middle line:84%
Forget the contents
for a minute,

00:03:03.250 --> 00:03:06.790 align:middle line:84%
but the building
itself is designed

00:03:06.790 --> 00:03:09.280 align:middle line:84%
by one of the world's coolest
architects, Les Wallach.

00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:13.720 align:middle line:84%
And there's no
freestanding building

00:03:13.720 --> 00:03:17.620 align:middle line:84%
devoted to poetry in this
country, or, as far as I know,

00:03:17.620 --> 00:03:20.560 align:middle line:84%
anywhere in the
world, of building

00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:22.940 align:middle line:84%
of that magnitude
whose sole purpose is

00:03:22.940 --> 00:03:26.320 align:middle line:84%
to house and
encourage the reading

00:03:26.320 --> 00:03:29.650 align:middle line:90%
and the writing of poetry.

00:03:29.650 --> 00:03:34.395 align:middle line:84%
And not just during Poetry
Month should you go.

00:03:34.395 --> 00:03:36.680 align:middle line:84%
But, you know, if you
name a month or a week

00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:41.390 align:middle line:84%
or a day after something,
it is a sign of its neglect.

00:03:41.390 --> 00:03:43.708 align:middle line:84%
Mother's Day is a
good example of that.

00:03:43.708 --> 00:03:46.890 align:middle line:90%


00:03:46.890 --> 00:03:51.200 align:middle line:84%
National Secretary's
Week is another one.

00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:55.266 align:middle line:84%
You'll never hear of a
National Television Month.

00:03:55.266 --> 00:04:00.680 align:middle line:84%
No thanks, television
doesn't need that attention.

00:04:00.680 --> 00:04:02.000 align:middle line:90%