WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.930 --> 00:00:02.790 align:middle line:90% Ah. 00:00:02.790 --> 00:00:05.670 align:middle line:90% The other book of poems. 00:00:05.670 --> 00:00:08.010 align:middle line:90% This is Blind Huber. 00:00:08.010 --> 00:00:09.160 align:middle line:90% Rodney's talked about that. 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:10.131 align:middle line:90% Do you remember? 00:00:10.131 --> 00:00:12.340 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:12.340 --> 00:00:13.320 align:middle line:90% Long time ago. 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:15.980 align:middle line:90% 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:21.410 align:middle line:84% It's Huber, as you all know, is the 17th-century French 00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:23.990 align:middle line:90% beekeeper, François Huber. 00:00:23.990 --> 00:00:25.593 align:middle line:90% I'm sure you've all studied. 00:00:25.593 --> 00:00:28.800 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:29.300 align:middle line:90% 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:31.880 align:middle line:90% I didn't study him very much. 00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:34.940 align:middle line:84% I knew about four things about him when I wrote this book. 00:00:34.940 --> 00:00:36.890 align:middle line:90% I knew that he was blind. 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:39.230 align:middle line:90% I knew that he was a beekeeper. 00:00:39.230 --> 00:00:42.080 align:middle line:84% I knew he had an assistant named Burnens. 00:00:42.080 --> 00:00:44.480 align:middle line:84% And they worked together for 50 years. 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:47.300 align:middle line:84% And I knew that he was very highly respected 00:00:47.300 --> 00:00:51.410 align:middle line:84% as discovering or rediscovering everything we know about bees. 00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:53.090 align:middle line:84% He sat before a hive for 50 years 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:55.700 align:middle line:84% and would have his assistant do things. 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.250 align:middle line:84% And then the assistant would come back and tell him 00:00:58.250 --> 00:01:00.474 align:middle line:90% what happened when he did them. 00:01:00.474 --> 00:01:02.960 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:04.879 align:middle line:90% And he figured everything out. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.640 align:middle line:84% Before that, they thought that there was a king bee. 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:10.050 align:middle line:84% He figured out there was a queen bee. 00:01:10.050 --> 00:01:11.216 align:middle line:90% That's big. 00:01:11.216 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:14.340 align:middle line:90% That's a big deal. 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:17.850 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.850 --> 00:01:19.290 align:middle line:90% I'll read this one. 00:01:19.290 --> 00:01:22.572 align:middle line:84% The book goes between Huber and a couple-- 00:01:22.572 --> 00:01:24.030 align:middle line:84% Burnens comes in a couple of times. 00:01:24.030 --> 00:01:27.810 align:middle line:84% But then there's talking bees in this also in this book. 00:01:27.810 --> 00:01:30.510 align:middle line:84% Apparently, it seems that bees are talking in the book. 00:01:30.510 --> 00:01:32.430 align:middle line:84% We all know that bees can't talk, 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:36.390 align:middle line:84% but we don't know if this is part of Huber's imagination. 00:01:36.390 --> 00:01:40.650 align:middle line:84% If he's just making it up or not, we're not sure. 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:42.720 align:middle line:84% The bees often contradict what Huber says. 00:01:42.720 --> 00:01:44.178 align:middle line:84% When Huber says something, the bees 00:01:44.178 --> 00:01:45.810 align:middle line:84% will come back and say the opposite 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:48.210 align:middle line:84% and say that he doesn't really know what's going on. 00:01:48.210 --> 00:01:49.210 align:middle line:90% So this is a Huber poem. 00:01:49.210 --> 00:01:52.460 align:middle line:90% It's called "Blind Huber." 00:01:52.460 --> 00:01:55.520 align:middle line:84% "I sit in a body and think of a body. 00:01:55.520 --> 00:02:00.690 align:middle line:84% I picture Burnens' hands, my words make them move. 00:02:00.690 --> 00:02:05.630 align:middle line:84% I say, plunge them into the hive, and his hands go in. 00:02:05.630 --> 00:02:10.389 align:middle line:84% If I said, put your head inside, he would wear it. 00:02:10.389 --> 00:02:14.950 align:middle line:84% Think of my body, every day the same chair, angled thus. 00:02:14.950 --> 00:02:18.160 align:middle line:84% Burnens every day, I think of his body, 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:21.520 align:middle line:84% think of a hive, each bee, each thought, 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:24.310 align:middle line:90% the hive brims with thought. 00:02:24.310 --> 00:02:29.230 align:middle line:84% Move it into shade, I think, and the body move to shade. 00:02:29.230 --> 00:02:34.180 align:middle line:84% Whose fingers, which word, each surges from inside my head, 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:37.890 align:middle line:90% but always returns as Burnens."