WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.080 align:middle line:84%
So I'm going to read you some
poems from this other book.

00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.170 align:middle line:84%
And then I'm going to read
you like two new poems,

00:00:07.170 --> 00:00:09.450 align:middle line:84%
OK, just to give
you a sense of where

00:00:09.450 --> 00:00:11.250 align:middle line:90%
we're going, if you like maps.

00:00:11.250 --> 00:00:13.770 align:middle line:90%
I like maps.

00:00:13.770 --> 00:00:17.010 align:middle line:84%
So this book is called The
Trees Witness Everything,

00:00:17.010 --> 00:00:20.400 align:middle line:90%
and it's very pink and thin.

00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:23.700 align:middle line:84%
It reminds me of
the old AAA maps

00:00:23.700 --> 00:00:26.610 align:middle line:84%
that we used to have when
we had maps in the car,

00:00:26.610 --> 00:00:28.830 align:middle line:84%
and we would try to
open them in the car.

00:00:28.830 --> 00:00:30.750 align:middle line:90%
And I loved the size of it.

00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:32.820 align:middle line:84%
It's just a cool
physical object.

00:00:32.820 --> 00:00:37.680 align:middle line:84%
And I was explaining to the
class that I don't-- actually

00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:40.860 align:middle line:84%
multiple classes that I
don't really like to tell

00:00:40.860 --> 00:00:42.060 align:middle line:90%
the designers what to do.

00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:47.190 align:middle line:84%
So I just didn't want anything
literal, so no trees, no bark,

00:00:47.190 --> 00:00:50.640 align:middle line:84%
no owls, and they
did come through

00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:52.860 align:middle line:84%
with a whole bunch of
those, and I said nothing.

00:00:52.860 --> 00:00:54.810 align:middle line:84%
And this-- and then
they came up with this,

00:00:54.810 --> 00:00:56.440 align:middle line:84%
and I thought this
was really cool.

00:00:56.440 --> 00:01:00.240 align:middle line:84%
It looked a lot like
those Jenny Holzer,

00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:06.690 align:middle line:84%
you know, like art and
then/or Dan Flavin neon

00:01:06.690 --> 00:01:07.600 align:middle line:90%
lights and stuff.

00:01:07.600 --> 00:01:09.900 align:middle line:84%
So I thought it was great
with the dot matrix on it,

00:01:09.900 --> 00:01:11.430 align:middle line:90%
was very cool.

00:01:11.430 --> 00:01:13.500 align:middle line:84%
So I'll just read
a few tiny poems.

00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:19.110 align:middle line:84%
These are all in syllabic
forms, and they're all

00:01:19.110 --> 00:01:19.833 align:middle line:90%
different forms.

00:01:19.833 --> 00:01:21.750 align:middle line:84%
I talk about that in the
back, so I won't even

00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:22.680 align:middle line:84%
tell you what they
are, but they're

00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:25.050 align:middle line:84%
like fives, and lots of
fives and lots of sevens.

00:01:25.050 --> 00:01:28.500 align:middle line:84%
And I will let you read
along with me if you

00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:30.360 align:middle line:90%
want to read along with me.

00:01:30.360 --> 00:01:34.920 align:middle line:84%
And they are WS Merwin titles,
and I rarely write this way,

00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:38.970 align:middle line:84%
go kind of backwards, and/or
maybe forwards, or have--

00:01:38.970 --> 00:01:42.100 align:middle line:84%
I really was trying hard
not to write about anything.

00:01:42.100 --> 00:01:44.490 align:middle line:84%
So in order to avoid
subject matter altogether,

00:01:44.490 --> 00:01:47.880 align:middle line:84%
I sort wanted to think of
ways to embody someone else's

00:01:47.880 --> 00:01:50.430 align:middle line:90%
subject matter in mind.

00:01:50.430 --> 00:01:52.500 align:middle line:84%
So WS Merwin is
a poet I love who

00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:55.180 align:middle line:84%
has these really
capacious titles,

00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:57.270 align:middle line:90%
and as I read them you'll see.

00:01:57.270 --> 00:01:59.760 align:middle line:84%
They're just really
open, and therefore,

00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.470 align:middle line:84%
gave me a lot of
room to move around

00:02:01.470 --> 00:02:03.810 align:middle line:90%
in a tiny miniature space.

00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:05.640 align:middle line:90%
Far Along in the Story.

00:02:05.640 --> 00:02:09.660 align:middle line:84%
Once I sat in rain, opened
my mouth to the sky.

00:02:09.660 --> 00:02:13.620 align:middle line:84%
I yearned to be changed, but
each drop was a small knife.

00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:16.050 align:middle line:84%
At first, I fainted,
but when I woke up,

00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:19.530 align:middle line:84%
all the ticking had gone and
all the centuries were one.

00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:22.670 align:middle line:90%
My choices no longer hurt.

00:02:22.670 --> 00:02:23.424 align:middle line:90%