WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.630 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.630 --> 00:00:02.625 align:middle line:90% I sold out and did a commercial. 00:00:02.625 --> 00:00:03.840 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.830 align:middle line:84% It's always a big argument about whether a poet takes money 00:00:07.830 --> 00:00:12.990 align:middle line:84% for doing something or write something for a product, 00:00:12.990 --> 00:00:14.490 align:middle line:90% that they're selling out, so. 00:00:14.490 --> 00:00:17.640 align:middle line:90% 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:19.740 align:middle line:90% What can I say? 00:00:19.740 --> 00:00:22.230 align:middle line:84% And I didn't sell out for anybody big 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:23.400 align:middle line:90% like McDonald's or Pepsi. 00:00:23.400 --> 00:00:25.170 align:middle line:90% I sold out for Oil of Olay. 00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:28.890 align:middle line:90% 00:00:28.890 --> 00:00:30.300 align:middle line:90% But it's the coolest thing. 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:31.740 align:middle line:90% I go into the studio. 00:00:31.740 --> 00:00:36.090 align:middle line:84% I have to write this poem about aging, or raging against aging, 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:36.675 align:middle line:90% they said. 00:00:36.675 --> 00:00:38.460 align:middle line:84% The advertising people, "We want you 00:00:38.460 --> 00:00:40.920 align:middle line:90% to rage against aging, right?" 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:44.040 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:46.860 align:middle line:84% And they're ready for me to take 200 takes of this little poem. 00:00:46.860 --> 00:00:49.700 align:middle line:84% And I read it the first time, they go, "Oh, 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:50.880 align:middle line:90% what we going to do? 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:51.630 align:middle line:90% She got it right." 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:53.542 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:53.542 --> 00:00:55.310 align:middle line:90% "Oh, let's go out for Martinis." 00:00:55.310 --> 00:00:59.160 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:59.160 --> 00:01:01.020 align:middle line:90% So you go to the studio. 00:01:01.020 --> 00:01:02.790 align:middle line:90% In 20 minutes, I read this poem. 00:01:02.790 --> 00:01:04.440 align:middle line:90% And they put it on the radio. 00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:06.060 align:middle line:84% And then they realize the place where 00:01:06.060 --> 00:01:08.100 align:middle line:84% the poem is running on the radio, 00:01:08.100 --> 00:01:10.890 align:middle line:84% they started to sell more Oil of Olay. 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:12.860 align:middle line:84% So they read it more, then it's another poem, 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:13.800 align:middle line:90% and they sold more. 00:01:13.800 --> 00:01:17.751 align:middle line:84% It probably wasn't a poem, but I didn't tell them that. 00:01:17.751 --> 00:01:21.660 align:middle line:84% Then every once in a while, this nice fat check would come. 00:01:21.660 --> 00:01:23.430 align:middle line:90% So, yes, I'm sorry. 00:01:23.430 --> 00:01:26.698 align:middle line:90% I compromised my art. 00:01:26.698 --> 00:01:28.490 align:middle line:84% Anyway, these are my two Oil of Olay poems. 00:01:28.490 --> 00:01:29.060 align:middle line:90% Yeah! 00:01:29.060 --> 00:01:32.970 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:32.970 --> 00:01:36.450 align:middle line:90% Oil of Olay, take one. 00:01:36.450 --> 00:01:39.240 align:middle line:84% "I will never be known for a sweet noiseless slip 00:01:39.240 --> 00:01:40.110 align:middle line:90% through this life. 00:01:40.110 --> 00:01:43.380 align:middle line:84% Both my skin and spirit refuse to fold. 00:01:43.380 --> 00:01:46.530 align:middle line:84% I top four decades plus, but no one dares 00:01:46.530 --> 00:01:48.810 align:middle line:90% conjure the Ma'am in me. 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:52.620 align:middle line:84% My spine is a lightning bolt. Still hippy and slick enough, 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:56.190 align:middle line:84% still sparking the double take, I slide a languid coil straight 00:01:56.190 --> 00:01:58.380 align:middle line:90% into any fury I can find. 00:01:58.380 --> 00:02:01.380 align:middle line:84% I laugh right in the face of "You don't look it," 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:03.210 align:middle line:84% armed with the stones that realization 00:02:03.210 --> 00:02:07.500 align:middle line:84% that I most certainly never will look it or act it or accept it. 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:09.389 align:middle line:84% That I will never sign on with the ranks 00:02:09.389 --> 00:02:12.660 align:middle line:84% of the withered and common sad souls marching resolutely 00:02:12.660 --> 00:02:15.210 align:middle line:84% behind the shields of their birthdays. 00:02:15.210 --> 00:02:18.060 align:middle line:84% Each year of me is dressed in spinning silk. 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:20.160 align:middle line:84% To touch the skin of my cheek is to touch 00:02:20.160 --> 00:02:21.960 align:middle line:90% what life knows about light. 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.830 align:middle line:84% To gaze upon me is to watch time spinning backwards, fixed 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:29.257 align:middle line:84% and forever focused on beginning again." 00:02:29.257 --> 00:02:30.090 align:middle line:90% This is what I did-- 00:02:30.090 --> 00:02:31.695 align:middle line:90% on beginning, again. 00:02:31.695 --> 00:02:34.200 align:middle line:90% 00:02:34.200 --> 00:02:36.960 align:middle line:90% Oil of Olay, take two. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.930 align:middle line:84% "I watched mere women wipe their reflections, 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:43.110 align:middle line:84% slather their faces with fragrant mud, scraping grains, 00:02:43.110 --> 00:02:45.510 align:middle line:84% hard lotions that screech and sting. 00:02:45.510 --> 00:02:47.850 align:middle line:84% They scrub the bridge of their noses with granules. 00:02:47.850 --> 00:02:51.510 align:middle line:84% Steam pours wide and peel off shiny false skins, 00:02:51.510 --> 00:02:53.910 align:middle line:90% praying for a new reel beneath. 00:02:53.910 --> 00:02:57.240 align:middle line:84% All that chaos, mind you, while the blessing of the symbol 00:02:57.240 --> 00:02:58.800 align:middle line:90% awaits them. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:01.830 align:middle line:84% I will grow older along with them, yes. 00:03:01.830 --> 00:03:04.890 align:middle line:84% My braids will streak silver, but no mere number 00:03:04.890 --> 00:03:07.350 align:middle line:84% will hold strength enough to name me. 00:03:07.350 --> 00:03:10.620 align:middle line:84% While they are being led across the street by polite young men, 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:14.010 align:middle line:84% I will carry a cane with a viper's head. 00:03:14.010 --> 00:03:15.600 align:middle line:84% While they weaken under the weight of, 00:03:15.600 --> 00:03:18.900 align:middle line:84% "Pardon me, ma'am," every translation of my name 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:20.760 align:middle line:90% will be "goddess." 00:03:20.760 --> 00:03:24.180 align:middle line:84% While they lock upon their mirrors and see only falling, 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:26.400 align:middle line:84% I will dance barefoot on the shards 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.880 align:middle line:90% of mirrors I have shattered." 00:03:29.880 --> 00:03:30.380 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:30.380 --> 00:03:31.838 align:middle line:84% Doesn't it make you want to just go 00:03:31.838 --> 00:03:33.070 align:middle line:90% out and buy some Oil of Olay? 00:03:33.070 --> 00:03:36.420 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER]