WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.100 align:middle line:90% 00:00:04.100 --> 00:00:11.820 align:middle line:84% I'll take us out on something about life, I suppose. 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:14.070 align:middle line:84% [? Theresa, ?] I actually have, as I said, 00:00:14.070 --> 00:00:15.960 align:middle line:84% written a poem with an audience in mind. 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:20.790 align:middle line:84% This is for anyone who's given birth and anyone who 00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:21.840 align:middle line:90% was given birth to. 00:00:21.840 --> 00:00:25.930 align:middle line:90% 00:00:25.930 --> 00:00:28.840 align:middle line:90% "Creation Myth for Jordan-- 00:00:28.840 --> 00:00:30.490 align:middle line:90% A Poem About Beginnings." 00:00:30.490 --> 00:00:34.020 align:middle line:90% 00:00:34.020 --> 00:00:35.820 align:middle line:84% "That March day in Massachusetts, 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:37.980 align:middle line:84% when the second-rate poet went shopping, 00:00:37.980 --> 00:00:40.560 align:middle line:84% he never thought he would buy that black shirt, the one 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.050 align:middle line:84% embroidered with that crazy Eastern motif, the one he knew 00:00:43.050 --> 00:00:45.510 align:middle line:84% was not his style, the one he knew he'd only wear once, 00:00:45.510 --> 00:00:48.932 align:middle line:84% the one he, in fact, really did only wear once, the one, yes, 00:00:48.932 --> 00:00:51.390 align:middle line:84% that hangs right there in the closet next to something else 00:00:51.390 --> 00:00:53.700 align:middle line:90% hanging in the closet. 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:55.800 align:middle line:90% His main thought was, hey. 00:00:55.800 --> 00:00:58.590 align:middle line:84% I wonder how this would look on stage this evening. 00:00:58.590 --> 00:01:01.620 align:middle line:90% He was vain that way. 00:01:01.620 --> 00:01:04.530 align:middle line:84% Likewise, when she wore that cleavage clinging pink halter 00:01:04.530 --> 00:01:07.680 align:middle line:84% top and that pair of ultra tight black pants, that outfit that 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.790 align:middle line:84% screams, I want men to respect me for my mind-- 00:01:11.790 --> 00:01:13.920 align:middle line:90% yes, that one. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:16.530 align:middle line:84% The one that pilfers his speech even now-- she 00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:18.420 align:middle line:84% was only dressing for a comfortable night 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:20.520 align:middle line:84% out with a girlfriend, a girlfriend who 00:01:20.520 --> 00:01:22.320 align:middle line:84% flaked on her at the last moment, 00:01:22.320 --> 00:01:23.850 align:middle line:90% leaving her to go out alone. 00:01:23.850 --> 00:01:25.800 align:middle line:84% She was not used to going to poetry readings. 00:01:25.800 --> 00:01:27.450 align:middle line:84% She had never been anywhere alone. 00:01:27.450 --> 00:01:29.040 align:middle line:90% She almost didn't go. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.410 align:middle line:90% But then she did. 00:01:31.410 --> 00:01:34.500 align:middle line:90% She surprises that way. 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:37.350 align:middle line:84% They didn't expect to meet, much less fall into one another 00:01:37.350 --> 00:01:40.290 align:middle line:84% and walk that thin bridge being built between them. 00:01:40.290 --> 00:01:43.560 align:middle line:84% He was a man who had a rather profound liking for the ladies, 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:47.010 align:middle line:84% though, surprisingly, he was very shy about women, 00:01:47.010 --> 00:01:48.720 align:middle line:90% especially that night. 00:01:48.720 --> 00:01:51.600 align:middle line:84% She, while not known for starting conversations 00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:54.700 align:middle line:84% with second-rate poets, was a little more forward than usual, 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.010 align:middle line:90% especially that night. 00:01:56.010 --> 00:01:58.230 align:middle line:84% And somehow, though this is apocryphal, 00:01:58.230 --> 00:02:00.780 align:middle line:84% as stories tend not to corroborate, 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:03.420 align:middle line:90% they wound up at IHOP. 00:02:03.420 --> 00:02:07.260 align:middle line:84% And over a cup of coffee and a rooty tooty fresh and fruity, 00:02:07.260 --> 00:02:10.050 align:middle line:90% he thought, maybe. 00:02:10.050 --> 00:02:13.950 align:middle line:90% She thought, maybe. 00:02:13.950 --> 00:02:18.780 align:middle line:84% As for you, well, you were not yet you. 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:23.820 align:middle line:84% Well, that is to say you were you potentially. 00:02:23.820 --> 00:02:26.520 align:middle line:84% But you are not yet this ever-parasitic tsunami 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.550 align:middle line:84% of new discovery fueled by laughter and lactation, 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:32.940 align:middle line:84% leaving broken drinking glasses and ruined CDs in your wake. 00:02:32.940 --> 00:02:35.370 align:middle line:84% No, you were not the bundle bringing 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:38.280 align:middle line:84% so much inestimable joy into their lives, as you are now, 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:41.010 align:middle line:84% but you were somewhere not quite there, 00:02:41.010 --> 00:02:44.280 align:middle line:84% a small curved line, faint and forming 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:48.120 align:middle line:84% at the end of some egg named future. 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:50.580 align:middle line:90% Then, they loved. 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:52.720 align:middle line:90% And it was good. 00:02:52.720 --> 00:02:56.010 align:middle line:84% That's all I can tell you now, son, as the goodness of this 00:02:56.010 --> 00:02:59.250 align:middle line:84% is also apocryphal and may only be his recollection. 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.640 align:middle line:90% But they loved again. 00:03:02.640 --> 00:03:04.050 align:middle line:90% And again. 00:03:04.050 --> 00:03:06.340 align:middle line:84% And during the August of one of those agains, 00:03:06.340 --> 00:03:08.700 align:middle line:84% the part of you that had been singing inside of her, 00:03:08.700 --> 00:03:10.380 align:middle line:84% saying him, saying to the part of you 00:03:10.380 --> 00:03:12.480 align:middle line:84% singing inside of her, that you began growing 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:15.270 align:middle line:90% into the song resembling them. 00:03:15.270 --> 00:03:17.310 align:middle line:84% And when the growing and singing were done, 00:03:17.310 --> 00:03:20.430 align:middle line:84% you were lifted from inside the soft dark of her 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:25.120 align:middle line:84% into light, into screaming, into breath. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:28.060 align:middle line:84% After that, he took you into an empty room. 00:03:28.060 --> 00:03:30.070 align:middle line:84% And while no one could see the two of you, 00:03:30.070 --> 00:03:33.470 align:middle line:84% he held you above his head, looked upwards at the ceiling. 00:03:33.470 --> 00:03:34.900 align:middle line:90% Imagine the fluorescent lights. 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:37.060 align:middle line:84% A sea of stars stretched endlessly 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:41.330 align:middle line:84% above a land smelling of salt water and village song. 00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:44.960 align:middle line:84% And as must have happened in the lands your ancestors came from, 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:49.100 align:middle line:84% he held you close and trembling to his chest, 00:03:49.100 --> 00:03:53.660 align:middle line:84% told you your name, thanked his father for your safe passage, 00:03:53.660 --> 00:03:56.240 align:middle line:84% then asked for strength and guidance 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:59.500 align:middle line:84% from whatever hand authors fate." 00:03:59.500 --> 00:04:00.000 align:middle line:90%