WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.350 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.350 --> 00:00:04.770 align:middle line:90% This poem is a-- 00:00:04.770 --> 00:00:09.370 align:middle line:90% 00:00:09.370 --> 00:00:14.190 align:middle line:84% it's a love poem, actually, to my husband. 00:00:14.190 --> 00:00:15.870 align:middle line:90% It's called "Cozy Apologia." 00:00:15.870 --> 00:00:18.330 align:middle line:84% And we have, at our house in Virginia, 00:00:18.330 --> 00:00:20.550 align:middle line:84% we have studies on the second floor 00:00:20.550 --> 00:00:23.490 align:middle line:90% on opposite ends of a hallway. 00:00:23.490 --> 00:00:25.920 align:middle line:90% And my husband's a novelist. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.717 align:middle line:84% It's wonderful when someone else is working at the same time 00:00:29.717 --> 00:00:30.550 align:middle line:90% that you're working. 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:32.040 align:middle line:84% Also, it keeps you, kind of, honest. 00:00:32.040 --> 00:00:33.230 align:middle line:84% You want to get up and have some chocolate 00:00:33.230 --> 00:00:34.188 align:middle line:90% and he's still working. 00:00:34.188 --> 00:00:35.370 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:35.370 --> 00:00:37.350 align:middle line:90% So you're back to your desk. 00:00:37.350 --> 00:00:39.600 align:middle line:90% But we also started a-- 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:41.340 align:middle line:90% our book are in between us-- 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:43.170 align:middle line:84% He started on one end next to his study 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:44.820 align:middle line:90% and I started my end and-- 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:47.223 align:middle line:84% and with our own brands of organization 00:00:47.223 --> 00:00:49.890 align:middle line:84% because we knew if we got in the middle we would have arguments, 00:00:49.890 --> 00:00:50.430 align:middle line:90% and we did-- 00:00:50.430 --> 00:00:51.660 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:53.610 align:middle line:84% And we still do, I mean, sometimes I'll 00:00:53.610 --> 00:00:55.200 align:middle line:84% go over to his section and grab a book 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.930 align:middle line:84% and say, he belongs to poetry and he'll come get it and say, 00:00:57.930 --> 00:00:59.340 align:middle line:90% he belongs with the Germans. 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:00.063 align:middle line:90% And, you know-- 00:01:00.063 --> 00:01:03.444 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:03.444 --> 00:01:07.050 align:middle line:90% "Cozy Apologia." 00:01:07.050 --> 00:01:09.810 align:middle line:84% I couldn't pick anything and think of you. 00:01:09.810 --> 00:01:14.670 align:middle line:84% This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue my pen exudes, 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:17.070 align:middle line:90% drying matte upon the page. 00:01:17.070 --> 00:01:20.730 align:middle line:84% I could choose any here, any cause or age. 00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:23.490 align:middle line:84% And sure as shooting arrows to the heart, 00:01:23.490 --> 00:01:27.270 align:middle line:84% astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart 00:01:27.270 --> 00:01:30.450 align:middle line:84% as standing in silver stirrups will allow. 00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:34.620 align:middle line:84% There you'll be, with furrowed brow and chain mail glinting, 00:01:34.620 --> 00:01:36.360 align:middle line:90% to set me free. 00:01:36.360 --> 00:01:40.830 align:middle line:84% One eye smiling, the other firm upon the enemy. 00:01:40.830 --> 00:01:45.090 align:middle line:84% This post-postmodern age is old business, compact disks 00:01:45.090 --> 00:01:46.380 align:middle line:90% and faxes. 00:01:46.380 --> 00:01:49.500 align:middle line:84% A do it now and take no risks event. 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:53.340 align:middle line:84% Today, a hurricane is nudging up the coast. 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:58.770 align:middle line:84% Oddly male, Big Bad Floyd, who brings a host of daydreams, 00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:03.030 align:middle line:84% awkward reminiscences of teenage crushes on worthless boys 00:02:03.030 --> 00:02:06.510 align:middle line:84% whose only talent was to kiss you senseless. 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:10.860 align:middle line:84% They all had sissy names, Marcel, Percy, Dewey. 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:13.590 align:middle line:84% Were thin as licorice and as chewy. 00:02:13.590 --> 00:02:17.170 align:middle line:90% Sweet with a dark hollow center. 00:02:17.170 --> 00:02:19.830 align:middle line:90% Floyd's cussing up a storm. 00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:21.840 align:middle line:90% You're bunkered in your aerie. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.460 align:middle line:90% I'm perched in mine. 00:02:23.460 --> 00:02:26.340 align:middle line:84% Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors. 00:02:26.340 --> 00:02:30.120 align:middle line:84% We're content, but fall short of the divine. 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:32.850 align:middle line:84% Still, it's embarrassing, this happiness. 00:02:32.850 --> 00:02:36.360 align:middle line:84% Who's satisfied simply with what's good for us. 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:39.480 align:middle line:84% When has the ordinary ever been good news? 00:02:39.480 --> 00:02:41.640 align:middle line:84% And yet, because nothing else will 00:02:41.640 --> 00:02:46.080 align:middle line:84% do to keep me from melancholy, call it blues, 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.210 align:middle line:84% I feel this stolen time with you.