WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.670 align:middle line:90% Oh, boy. 00:00:02.670 --> 00:00:04.670 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:04.670 --> 00:00:06.810 align:middle line:90% Oh. 00:00:06.810 --> 00:00:10.970 align:middle line:84% This is I think probably the longest poem I've ever-- 00:00:10.970 --> 00:00:12.600 align:middle line:90% longest poem I've ever written. 00:00:12.600 --> 00:00:16.300 align:middle line:90% So they're all going, oh, great. 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:16.800 align:middle line:90% Good. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.420 align:middle line:90% I can't get out fast enough. 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:21.870 align:middle line:90% 00:00:21.870 --> 00:00:24.540 align:middle line:84% I watch terrible movies and I love cartoons. 00:00:24.540 --> 00:00:26.910 align:middle line:90% I'm a "Cartoon Network" junkie. 00:00:26.910 --> 00:00:30.007 align:middle line:90% And all cartoons, specifically. 00:00:30.007 --> 00:00:31.590 align:middle line:84% And I used to watch a lot of "Popeye." 00:00:31.590 --> 00:00:32.520 align:middle line:90% I know nobody likes "Popeye." 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:34.350 align:middle line:84% You think "Popeye" is really old-fashioned. 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.270 align:middle line:90% But "Popeye" is really cool. 00:00:36.270 --> 00:00:40.048 align:middle line:84% And I always wondered about Olive Oyl, what her story was. 00:00:40.048 --> 00:00:42.090 align:middle line:84% Because men were just abusing her left and right. 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:44.220 align:middle line:90% She was always there. 00:00:44.220 --> 00:00:46.020 align:middle line:90% And who was Sweet Pea? 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:49.300 align:middle line:90% Whose baby was Sweet Pea? 00:00:49.300 --> 00:00:52.160 align:middle line:90% Who was Sweet Pea's baby daddy? 00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:53.060 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:55.560 align:middle line:84% Sweet Pea just kind of popped up and they passed him around. 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.300 align:middle line:84% I think it was Wimpy, the hamburger guy. 00:00:58.300 --> 00:01:00.450 align:middle line:84% He just had that look in his eye. 00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:06.520 align:middle line:84% Anyway, so this is a poem called "Olive Oyl talks to "People 00:01:06.520 --> 00:01:13.770 align:middle line:84% Magazine'" written in the voice of Olive Oyl who finally sat 00:01:13.770 --> 00:01:16.860 align:middle line:84% down for that long-awaited interview with "People 00:01:16.860 --> 00:01:17.796 align:middle line:90% Magazine." 00:01:17.796 --> 00:01:21.900 align:middle line:90% 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:26.250 align:middle line:84% "If you must know me, first know this. 00:01:26.250 --> 00:01:29.400 align:middle line:84% I was born a bone child, a bleached confusion 00:01:29.400 --> 00:01:31.770 align:middle line:84% of sticks clattering from my mother's womb, 00:01:31.770 --> 00:01:35.310 align:middle line:84% ribs fused gently around a sputtering heart. 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:37.770 align:middle line:84% No milk moved in the woman who made me, 00:01:37.770 --> 00:01:41.190 align:middle line:84% so I lay in her thin arms sucking the thought of the sea 00:01:41.190 --> 00:01:43.230 align:middle line:90% from her skin. 00:01:43.230 --> 00:01:45.300 align:middle line:84% My father was a stevedore, wrists 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:49.110 align:middle line:84% of dust, his skinny pink neck bulging with pull and push, 00:01:49.110 --> 00:01:51.060 align:middle line:90% heft and release. 00:01:51.060 --> 00:01:53.220 align:middle line:84% My mother grew weak trying to love him, 00:01:53.220 --> 00:01:54.960 align:middle line:84% searching for the rhythms of water 00:01:54.960 --> 00:01:58.230 align:middle line:84% in the way his sour body folded around sleep, 00:01:58.230 --> 00:02:01.710 align:middle line:84% his demands for sex, more potatoes. 00:02:01.710 --> 00:02:05.580 align:middle line:84% She sat at the window watching real sailors. 00:02:05.580 --> 00:02:08.220 align:middle line:84% He blossomed as her body cramped with me. 00:02:08.220 --> 00:02:11.250 align:middle line:84% He was praying for a boy, muscles he could tame, 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:13.800 align:middle line:84% a fool who believed he was seaworthy. 00:02:13.800 --> 00:02:16.710 align:middle line:84% But then I came, blanched, sickly, 00:02:16.710 --> 00:02:20.040 align:middle line:84% slick with blood and effort, hair as black and flat 00:02:20.040 --> 00:02:21.630 align:middle line:90% as a seal's. 00:02:21.630 --> 00:02:24.210 align:middle line:84% He never held me and only touched me once, 00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:26.970 align:middle line:84% his fingers tangling in my sparse pubic hair. 00:02:26.970 --> 00:02:31.080 align:middle line:84% Then pulling away, startled, disgusted, thrilled. 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:33.330 align:middle line:84% Perhaps he hoped I could be a man. 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:35.460 align:middle line:84% But he went no further, because he only 00:02:35.460 --> 00:02:38.550 align:middle line:90% called himself a sailor. 00:02:38.550 --> 00:02:40.560 align:middle line:84% Early one morning as he helped the crew 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:44.220 align:middle line:84% unload the Wind Swept, his heart splintered and burst, his body 00:02:44.220 --> 00:02:46.500 align:middle line:84% falling only inches from the sea he swore 00:02:46.500 --> 00:02:51.030 align:middle line:84% to possess before he died, his mouth filled with earth 00:02:51.030 --> 00:02:52.560 align:middle line:90% and chips of wood. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:57.060 align:middle line:84% My mother screamed, refused food and followed. 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.250 align:middle line:84% I was left alone in the house of my birth, 00:02:59.250 --> 00:03:02.580 align:middle line:84% a battered wooden shell ravaged by wind and salt. 00:03:02.580 --> 00:03:05.160 align:middle line:84% My wide eyes were trained on the waterline, 00:03:05.160 --> 00:03:07.410 align:middle line:84% watching the rickety ships bob and pivot, 00:03:07.410 --> 00:03:11.340 align:middle line:84% hearing the raw shouts, the thick voices of mariners. 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:13.950 align:middle line:84% I was still a stick interrupted by knees, 00:03:13.950 --> 00:03:17.100 align:middle line:84% ending in huge feet caged in black shoes. 00:03:17.100 --> 00:03:19.620 align:middle line:84% I pulled my hair tight and looped a red ribbon 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:23.550 align:middle line:84% through the floppy bun, powdered coy circles on pale cheeks. 00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:26.040 align:middle line:84% I stuffed napkins into the front of my dress 00:03:26.040 --> 00:03:30.060 align:middle line:84% and pranced ashore, a sacrifice of toothpicks. 00:03:30.060 --> 00:03:34.410 align:middle line:84% I wanted the man my father had wanted to be, a man of the sea 00:03:34.410 --> 00:03:36.330 align:middle line:90% drunk, with horizons. 00:03:36.330 --> 00:03:39.600 align:middle line:90% The rumbling one came first. 00:03:39.600 --> 00:03:41.730 align:middle line:84% All sinew and teeth, his arms were 00:03:41.730 --> 00:03:44.910 align:middle line:84% tree trunks, muscles screaming inside stiff cotton clothing. 00:03:44.910 --> 00:03:46.500 align:middle line:90% His real name didn't matter. 00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:49.740 align:middle line:84% The men barked, "Bluto," and the hard syllable 00:03:49.740 --> 00:03:51.360 align:middle line:90% swirled in my head." 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.130 align:middle line:84% It's hard to say that without smiling. 00:03:53.130 --> 00:03:55.320 align:middle line:84% "A look from him would have curled my father, 00:03:55.320 --> 00:03:58.980 align:middle line:84% made my mother rise and press her face against the window. 00:03:58.980 --> 00:04:02.190 align:middle line:84% The helpless air crackled when he was in it, sparks stinging 00:04:02.190 --> 00:04:04.500 align:middle line:84% my skin, currents bristling my hair. 00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:07.410 align:middle line:84% Love made me dance around him, silly with want. 00:04:07.410 --> 00:04:10.410 align:middle line:84% My hard black brogans, clicking on the dock. 00:04:10.410 --> 00:04:13.290 align:middle line:84% My wretched waltz amused, then confused him, 00:04:13.290 --> 00:04:16.050 align:middle line:84% until he could not imagine the night without me. 00:04:16.050 --> 00:04:19.230 align:middle line:84% Grips tightened around my sputtering heart. 00:04:19.230 --> 00:04:21.630 align:middle line:90% No music or tentative fingers. 00:04:21.630 --> 00:04:25.320 align:middle line:84% He took me like a windstorm, left me rattled and sore. 00:04:25.320 --> 00:04:27.390 align:middle line:84% His brash laughter boomed and the crowd 00:04:27.390 --> 00:04:30.870 align:middle line:84% gathered at my window to watch him suck tiny red stars 00:04:30.870 --> 00:04:33.180 align:middle line:90% into the skin of my throat. 00:04:33.180 --> 00:04:35.460 align:middle line:84% He took me propped against the wall, pinned 00:04:35.460 --> 00:04:38.670 align:middle line:84% to the rough wooden floor, in the chipped porcelain bathtub, 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:40.680 align:middle line:84% against the icebox, from the front, 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:43.680 align:middle line:84% from behind, with his mouth and with his cock, veined 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.480 align:middle line:90% as a horse's neck. 00:04:45.480 --> 00:04:49.620 align:middle line:84% I wept with love, bled into his cupped hand. 00:04:49.620 --> 00:04:52.810 align:middle line:84% When he left, I went with him, thinner than when I began, 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:57.240 align:middle line:84% but wanting the sea and that man more than anything. 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:00.390 align:middle line:84% He passed me to his drooling men, broke me to the bough, 00:05:00.390 --> 00:05:01.800 align:middle line:90% laughed at my longing. 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:04.770 align:middle line:84% On faraway islands bursting with color I could smell, 00:05:04.770 --> 00:05:07.080 align:middle line:84% he starved me, tied me to tree trunks, 00:05:07.080 --> 00:05:10.020 align:middle line:90% teased my body with wild tigers. 00:05:10.020 --> 00:05:13.380 align:middle line:84% Each night he rewarded my devotion, biting into my skin 00:05:13.380 --> 00:05:16.440 align:middle line:84% with yellow teeth, under center of his name carved 00:05:16.440 --> 00:05:18.270 align:middle line:90% into my skinny soul. 00:05:18.270 --> 00:05:22.080 align:middle line:84% Soon he would love me more than water. 00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:24.420 align:middle line:84% But one raucous midnight while I prayed 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.570 align:middle line:84% no train would come rumbling down the tracks I was tied to, 00:05:27.570 --> 00:05:31.260 align:middle line:84% the ropes loosened and I was swept up by arms I didn't know. 00:05:31.260 --> 00:05:33.630 align:middle line:84% I looked up into a comical squint of eyes, 00:05:33.630 --> 00:05:35.850 align:middle line:84% smelled the briny musk of his panting 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:39.300 align:middle line:84% and wondered what seas this man had seen. 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:43.410 align:middle line:84% If Bluto was tidal wave, Popeye was ripple. 00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:45.990 align:middle line:84% Bald, nearly blind, bubble-cheeked, 00:05:45.990 --> 00:05:48.870 align:middle line:84% the rotting pipe teetering on his bottom lip. 00:05:48.870 --> 00:05:52.620 align:middle line:84% My savior, as if I had asked to be saved. 00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:53.730 align:middle line:90% I hated him. 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:56.520 align:middle line:84% His giddy toothless smile, that stupid giggle, 00:05:56.520 --> 00:05:59.610 align:middle line:90% his bulging cartoon forearms. 00:05:59.610 --> 00:06:02.220 align:middle line:84% When he saw my scars, he blubbered like a baby, 00:06:02.220 --> 00:06:04.560 align:middle line:84% weeping at my histories of torn skin, 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:07.600 align:middle line:84% not recognizing the signpost of love. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:11.750 align:middle line:84% I fell asleep counting while his mouth touched each one. 00:06:11.750 --> 00:06:15.410 align:middle line:84% I had no place for him in my crazy life, yet there he was. 00:06:15.410 --> 00:06:18.590 align:middle line:84% When he loved me, lay me down as if I were a rose, 00:06:18.590 --> 00:06:20.780 align:middle line:90% my wounds found new skin. 00:06:20.780 --> 00:06:23.210 align:middle line:90% I was too beautiful to be me. 00:06:23.210 --> 00:06:25.430 align:middle line:84% But now my life borders on slapstick. 00:06:25.430 --> 00:06:28.160 align:middle line:84% I walk into traps, tumble into rushing rivers, 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:31.580 align:middle line:84% one-eyed ogres dangle me over spitting volcanoes. 00:06:31.580 --> 00:06:35.360 align:middle line:84% Bluto snatches me from Popeye's bed, slams his want into me, 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:37.070 align:middle line:90% threatens me with blades. 00:06:37.070 --> 00:06:39.980 align:middle line:84% Popeye gobbles what he can of the Earth and risks 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.800 align:middle line:84% his life to find me, beats Bluto senseless. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:44.960 align:middle line:90% Then it all begins again. 00:06:44.960 --> 00:06:48.770 align:middle line:84% My body stretches between them, thinner than ever. 00:06:48.770 --> 00:06:51.950 align:middle line:84% Popeye wants to marry me, make an honest woman out of a hot, 00:06:51.950 --> 00:06:54.440 align:middle line:90% bony stevedore's daughter. 00:06:54.440 --> 00:06:58.310 align:middle line:84% Bluto lights a match, holds it to my nipple. 00:06:58.310 --> 00:06:59.990 align:middle line:84% You ask how I can love them both, 00:06:59.990 --> 00:07:02.960 align:middle line:84% how these bones have carried them for so long. 00:07:02.960 --> 00:07:05.910 align:middle line:84% If you must know, first know this, 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:09.110 align:middle line:84% I was raised by the water, crafted by these tides. 00:07:09.110 --> 00:07:12.260 align:middle line:84% A sick child, never wise or beautiful. 00:07:12.260 --> 00:07:15.260 align:middle line:84% Whatever I loved, loved the water first. 00:07:15.260 --> 00:07:18.860 align:middle line:84% And I will die possessing these sailing men who fight over 00:07:18.860 --> 00:07:24.700 align:middle line:84% my frail body, craving my flesh and neglecting the sea." 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:35.000 align:middle line:90%