WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:06.300 align:middle line:84% I've been here before, and I feel very lucky, and very 00:00:06.300 --> 00:00:09.390 align:middle line:90% happy, to be here again. 00:00:09.390 --> 00:00:11.490 align:middle line:84% It's very nice to have an opportunity again 00:00:11.490 --> 00:00:17.130 align:middle line:84% to thank the Poetry Center and the writing program and Tucson 00:00:17.130 --> 00:00:18.150 align:middle line:90% and-- 00:00:18.150 --> 00:00:20.400 align:middle line:84% I could go on about that, because it's 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:23.220 align:middle line:90% really hard to thank enough. 00:00:23.220 --> 00:00:28.590 align:middle line:84% But, I'll read five poems, and I think this first poem takes 00:00:28.590 --> 00:00:31.290 align:middle line:90% five minutes to read. 00:00:31.290 --> 00:00:36.780 align:middle line:84% This first poem responds to Rebecca Strzelec's artwork. 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:42.480 align:middle line:84% And it's a brooch based on Gregg shorthand. 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:44.730 align:middle line:90% The piece on the front is-- 00:00:44.730 --> 00:00:47.310 align:middle line:84% on the front, is "Apology Brooch". 00:00:47.310 --> 00:00:51.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:51.770 --> 00:00:55.370 align:middle line:84% Apology is read up like this in shorthand, 00:00:55.370 --> 00:00:58.010 align:middle line:84% without accoutrements, and the hull of this word 00:00:58.010 --> 00:01:00.440 align:middle line:90% is made in a shipyard. 00:01:00.440 --> 00:01:03.950 align:middle line:84% During the final Ice Capades known as the Wisconsin stage, 00:01:03.950 --> 00:01:08.090 align:middle line:84% words grew formations, prefixes, and connotations. 00:01:08.090 --> 00:01:12.440 align:middle line:84% John Robert Gregg, 1888, crafted a shorthand 00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:16.490 align:middle line:84% essentializing curvatures of commonly used sounds. 00:01:16.490 --> 00:01:19.430 align:middle line:84% Diamond jubilees, Gregg shorthand textbooks, 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:23.270 align:middle line:84% helped thousands of married women who left the job-- 00:01:23.270 --> 00:01:29.240 align:middle line:84% the job-- years ago re-enter the secretarial field. 00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:34.610 align:middle line:84% 76 tombolos led the slim parade connecting islands-- 00:01:34.610 --> 00:01:38.690 align:middle line:84% oh, so fragile, Fra Angelico annunciating-- f, f, f, space, 00:01:38.690 --> 00:01:44.510 align:middle line:84% tab, tab, tab, f, f, f, space, tab, tab, tab. 00:01:44.510 --> 00:01:47.450 align:middle line:84% A secretary's speed is measured in syllables. 00:01:47.450 --> 00:01:51.260 align:middle line:84% Sounds uttered by the dictator are broken into syllables. 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:52.670 align:middle line:90% I'm the commander. 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:54.710 align:middle line:90% See, I don't need to explain-- 00:01:54.710 --> 00:01:58.160 align:middle line:84% I do not need to explain why I say things. 00:01:58.160 --> 00:02:03.200 align:middle line:84% That's the interesting thing about being the President. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:06.380 align:middle line:90% Apology is red up like this. 00:02:06.380 --> 00:02:09.889 align:middle line:84% It's inside, a side, becomes it's out, beside. 00:02:09.889 --> 00:02:14.600 align:middle line:84% And so, apologies got one of the freshest insides around. 00:02:14.600 --> 00:02:16.520 align:middle line:84% It's OK that a word is a placeholder. 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:18.920 align:middle line:84% The place is on a conveyor belt. A course assembly 00:02:18.920 --> 00:02:21.890 align:middle line:90% line only for it's one self. 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:25.070 align:middle line:84% Word's spines tremble like ear bones. 00:02:25.070 --> 00:02:28.130 align:middle line:84% There's just a spot of rubbing on the spine of apology 00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:31.470 align:middle line:84% and even fainter stunning to the spine's claw. 00:02:31.470 --> 00:02:34.910 align:middle line:84% Sweetie, there's foxing at the upper edge. 00:02:34.910 --> 00:02:38.660 align:middle line:84% Apologies internally foxed with surface dirt, 00:02:38.660 --> 00:02:42.200 align:middle line:84% and yet it is a value rare and not usually found 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:44.180 align:middle line:90% in valuable condition. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:47.150 align:middle line:84% The chipping across the top edge does not affect the text, 00:02:47.150 --> 00:02:51.080 align:middle line:84% nor, of course, does the hint of lamination. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:53.960 align:middle line:84% The unnameable in near fine condition. 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:56.960 align:middle line:84% The unnameable, sunned, but crisp, 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.400 align:middle line:84% apology-- you are a classic in your fine, dust jacket. 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:04.670 align:middle line:84% Words don't like their pictures taken. 00:03:04.670 --> 00:03:05.420 align:middle line:90% Peep at words. 00:03:05.420 --> 00:03:08.750 align:middle line:84% They will let you touch for three quarters. 00:03:08.750 --> 00:03:12.260 align:middle line:84% Apology is red up like this-- scoured capillaries, 00:03:12.260 --> 00:03:15.920 align:middle line:84% clean as new PVC, flayed in layers-- 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:18.230 align:middle line:90% not Plath's lampshade. 00:03:18.230 --> 00:03:20.270 align:middle line:90% You misunderstand. 00:03:20.270 --> 00:03:26.240 align:middle line:84% Apologized for naught-- my face at apologies' hull 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:28.850 align:middle line:84% struggled to remember the shape of apology. 00:03:28.850 --> 00:03:32.090 align:middle line:84% Used a counterfeit for so long, long handedly 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:34.850 align:middle line:84% sought a scalloped apology with a compression valve. 00:03:34.850 --> 00:03:38.540 align:middle line:90% Cut apology in half, then died. 00:03:38.540 --> 00:03:41.120 align:middle line:90% Death says, apologize. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:42.800 align:middle line:90% No, I won't. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:44.990 align:middle line:90% If you don't, you are grounded. 00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:49.430 align:middle line:84% Let apology be red objects like this- plastic shells, not 00:03:49.430 --> 00:03:50.060 align:middle line:90% dropped. 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:52.550 align:middle line:90% Apology, we are so proud. 00:03:52.550 --> 00:03:55.070 align:middle line:90% The dead light bulbs cracked. 00:03:55.070 --> 00:03:59.780 align:middle line:84% Crusade without congressional offspring, in bumper sticker, 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:00.740 align:middle line:90% ready? 00:04:00.740 --> 00:04:03.740 align:middle line:84% Here, apology based on the equation for propeller. 00:04:03.740 --> 00:04:07.160 align:middle line:84% Apology banks, changing the angle of its' feathers, 00:04:07.160 --> 00:04:09.470 align:middle line:90% one mile past Apogee. 00:04:09.470 --> 00:04:12.920 align:middle line:84% All apologies are unjustified, use extra curlicues, 00:04:12.920 --> 00:04:14.870 align:middle line:90% and have no edge to reach. 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:17.450 align:middle line:90% Apology walks into a-- 00:04:17.450 --> 00:04:19.370 align:middle line:90% can't see that line. 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:22.490 align:middle line:84% Gregg shorthand represents vowels as hooks and circles 00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:23.570 align:middle line:90% on consonants. 00:04:23.570 --> 00:04:26.450 align:middle line:84% Words have portals, and each portal leads to hypertext. 00:04:26.450 --> 00:04:29.060 align:middle line:84% So you can see what might happen. 00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:31.070 align:middle line:90% Here is Beckett's apology-- 00:04:31.070 --> 00:04:34.190 align:middle line:84% I am sorry for our lack of comprehension. 00:04:34.190 --> 00:04:38.480 align:middle line:84% Apology can break open to polo or log. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:40.820 align:middle line:90% Words produce dunes. 00:04:40.820 --> 00:04:43.940 align:middle line:84% A dune's inside is like a word's. 00:04:43.940 --> 00:04:48.500 align:middle line:84% A word's inside is grainy and genderless, not vase-like. 00:04:48.500 --> 00:04:52.430 align:middle line:84% Inside a word is oar and outside is would-- 00:04:52.430 --> 00:04:54.350 align:middle line:90% so we paddle. 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.390 align:middle line:90% Inside of inside is a puddle. 00:04:56.390 --> 00:04:59.900 align:middle line:84% As more sides are added, new meanings can slip. 00:04:59.900 --> 00:05:01.310 align:middle line:90% Words are not boxed. 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:03.560 align:middle line:90% Their insides don't fit inside-- 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:05.420 align:middle line:90% mine neither. 00:05:05.420 --> 00:05:08.465 align:middle line:84% Typewriting and shorthand are my keys to the workforce today. 00:05:08.465 --> 00:05:11.600 align:middle line:90% Eight, eight, g, g-- 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:14.360 align:middle line:84% the thickness, length, and position of strokes 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.370 align:middle line:90% are all significant. 00:05:16.370 --> 00:05:20.270 align:middle line:84% Apology after stroking can become a tombolo. 00:05:20.270 --> 00:05:23.510 align:middle line:84% All I have are the most peculiar letters, the round, 00:05:23.510 --> 00:05:24.530 align:middle line:90% and the dangly. 00:05:24.530 --> 00:05:29.240 align:middle line:84% I offer them without suffix or pretense. 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.190 align:middle line:84% Not idealize-- don't you think it though-- 00:05:31.190 --> 00:05:33.440 align:middle line:84% It's tautless such and such, so underdone, 00:05:33.440 --> 00:05:36.650 align:middle line:84% what a production number sung out, out, out. 00:05:36.650 --> 00:05:40.610 align:middle line:84% Not rewarding as wished-- if you would like a free upgrade-- 00:05:40.610 --> 00:05:43.310 align:middle line:84% sunny, hunker, no beach umbrella, 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:46.340 align:middle line:84% solemn love for the idyllic, gold scene, solemn belief 00:05:46.340 --> 00:05:48.890 align:middle line:84% in the small crop circles surrounding the beach grass 00:05:48.890 --> 00:05:50.360 align:middle line:90% patches. 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:53.230 align:middle line:84% If beach grass, beach roses, beach la la la 00:05:53.230 --> 00:05:56.270 align:middle line:84% could hold the page together, no trembling, 00:05:56.270 --> 00:05:59.090 align:middle line:90% we couldn't get anywhere. 00:05:59.090 --> 00:06:02.810 align:middle line:84% You just want something to think about, don't you? 00:06:02.810 --> 00:06:04.160 align:middle line:90% Vacant. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:05.990 align:middle line:90% Only inside once. 00:06:05.990 --> 00:06:11.450 align:middle line:84% Said he'd rather f, f, f, space, tab, tab, tab, than 00:06:11.450 --> 00:06:14.250 align:middle line:90% sit in that uncomfortable chair. 00:06:14.250 --> 00:06:16.070 align:middle line:90% There's no way to repeat that. 00:06:16.070 --> 00:06:19.250 align:middle line:90% Your moraine moraines. 00:06:19.250 --> 00:06:21.350 align:middle line:84% Paper flopping over the typewriter, 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:23.330 align:middle line:90% the breeze is sounder-- 00:06:23.330 --> 00:06:24.830 align:middle line:90% sounding. 00:06:24.830 --> 00:06:28.010 align:middle line:84% Apologies inside is protected by the overhang of its letters. 00:06:28.010 --> 00:06:31.730 align:middle line:84% The vine around apology makes it diligently tentacled. 00:06:31.730 --> 00:06:35.810 align:middle line:84% Apology, as the absence of what ought to be, lulls in place-- 00:06:35.810 --> 00:06:38.540 align:middle line:90% can hardly keep its place. 00:06:38.540 --> 00:06:42.020 align:middle line:84% Nobody knows if apology is filled with silt. 00:06:42.020 --> 00:06:45.320 align:middle line:90% Here is Eliot's apology-- 00:06:45.320 --> 00:06:48.050 align:middle line:90% 'getical cats. 00:06:48.050 --> 00:06:51.170 align:middle line:84% How a word is affected by its use-- in dormant states, 00:06:51.170 --> 00:06:54.200 align:middle line:84% a word's inside gets more liquefied. 00:06:54.200 --> 00:06:56.390 align:middle line:84% Since a word's inside is already liquid, 00:06:56.390 --> 00:06:59.270 align:middle line:90% its liquid state is past liquid. 00:06:59.270 --> 00:07:00.710 align:middle line:90% Words arrived in boxes. 00:07:00.710 --> 00:07:02.150 align:middle line:90% We recycle the boxes. 00:07:02.150 --> 00:07:04.700 align:middle line:84% Can't flip over to the map as if seeking the key 00:07:04.700 --> 00:07:08.270 align:middle line:84% to Whitman, or Godiva chocolates-- bonbons and not so 00:07:08.270 --> 00:07:09.020 align:middle line:90% bons. 00:07:09.020 --> 00:07:10.490 align:middle line:90% Correct. 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:13.250 align:middle line:84% I apologize for the fickle and un-lexical. 00:07:13.250 --> 00:07:16.190 align:middle line:90% Let apology be for whim cycles. 00:07:16.190 --> 00:07:19.000 align:middle line:90% Synecdoche your umbrella.