WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.260 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.260 --> 00:00:04.350 align:middle line:84% Just a couple of poems from the new book, Why the Woman Is 00:00:04.350 --> 00:00:05.970 align:middle line:90% Singing on the Corner. 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:09.270 align:middle line:90% This book I wrote-- 00:00:09.270 --> 00:00:15.880 align:middle line:84% in the beginning of it, you see a series of statements. 00:00:15.880 --> 00:00:17.670 align:middle line:84% One is a poem from Gwendolyn Brooks 00:00:17.670 --> 00:00:19.110 align:middle line:90% called "The Crazy Woman." 00:00:19.110 --> 00:00:20.790 align:middle line:84% But there's a series of statements 00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:22.770 align:middle line:90% that introduce this book. 00:00:22.770 --> 00:00:25.330 align:middle line:84% And I wrote it thinking of several things. 00:00:25.330 --> 00:00:27.300 align:middle line:84% One is Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet. 00:00:27.300 --> 00:00:31.080 align:middle line:90% Ophelia was abandoned. 00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:32.940 align:middle line:84% She could not handle abandonment. 00:00:32.940 --> 00:00:38.130 align:middle line:84% And if you know the story, her father, her brother, 00:00:38.130 --> 00:00:40.170 align:middle line:90% and finally Hamlet abandons her. 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:43.740 align:middle line:84% She's too fragile to deal with it, so she goes-- 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:46.020 align:middle line:90% she loses her mind. 00:00:46.020 --> 00:00:47.970 align:middle line:90% That was part of this book. 00:00:47.970 --> 00:00:51.420 align:middle line:84% The other is a part of a story I was 00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:55.080 align:middle line:84% told by my father of a woman who had a wonderful life 00:00:55.080 --> 00:00:57.240 align:middle line:84% but had been abandoned by her husband 00:00:57.240 --> 00:00:59.460 align:middle line:90% and how her life went downhill. 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:02.400 align:middle line:84% In this book, the woman's name is Phelia, 00:01:02.400 --> 00:01:04.440 align:middle line:90% and we think of Ophelia. 00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:07.110 align:middle line:84% And when you meet her, it's sort of like-- 00:01:07.110 --> 00:01:11.100 align:middle line:84% I'm basing it on techniques that Robert Browning did, 00:01:11.100 --> 00:01:15.600 align:middle line:84% the English poet, because Browning would do monologues, 00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:18.690 align:middle line:84% and you would have to get the content of the character 00:01:18.690 --> 00:01:20.400 align:middle line:90% through the monologue. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:22.620 align:middle line:84% One of my favorite is "My Last Duchess," 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:26.040 align:middle line:84% in which you get to know, through the monologue that 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:28.560 align:middle line:84% is being spoken, you learn a lot about the man. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.960 align:middle line:84% When I read the slave poems to you in a moment, 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:33.120 align:middle line:84% you'll see what I'm talking about in that. 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:35.700 align:middle line:84% Well, here you will find out about this woman simply 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:38.680 align:middle line:90% by listening to what she says. 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:41.700 align:middle line:84% And she's moving into her insanity 00:01:41.700 --> 00:01:44.970 align:middle line:84% because of being abandoned all of her life, 00:01:44.970 --> 00:01:46.710 align:middle line:90% by her child dying. 00:01:46.710 --> 00:01:49.320 align:middle line:84% She had three husbands and one lover, 00:01:49.320 --> 00:01:50.790 align:middle line:90% and they all abandoned her. 00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:54.450 align:middle line:84% And in order to hold on to what she thinks is her sanity, 00:01:54.450 --> 00:01:56.040 align:middle line:90% she creates a ghost-- 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:57.540 align:middle line:90% her sister's about to die. 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.630 align:middle line:84% She cannot handle that, so she creates a ghost before 00:02:00.630 --> 00:02:01.770 align:middle line:90% the sister dies. 00:02:01.770 --> 00:02:06.660 align:middle line:84% She also goes back to one of her ancestors, whose name is Jo, 00:02:06.660 --> 00:02:08.550 align:middle line:90% and Jo was a slave woman. 00:02:08.550 --> 00:02:12.090 align:middle line:84% And she goes back to the slave plantation to her grave 00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:13.170 align:middle line:90% every now and then. 00:02:13.170 --> 00:02:15.840 align:middle line:84% She's trying hard to hold on to her sanity. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:18.540 align:middle line:84% In the end, she's schizophrenic, and she is screaming-- 00:02:18.540 --> 00:02:21.120 align:middle line:90% singing, singing on the corner. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:22.950 align:middle line:84% Now, I don't know if any of you have ever 00:02:22.950 --> 00:02:24.510 align:middle line:90% seen some of these people. 00:02:24.510 --> 00:02:27.630 align:middle line:84% I have in big cities-- in New York, in Washington. 00:02:27.630 --> 00:02:29.207 align:middle line:90% They're male or female. 00:02:29.207 --> 00:02:30.540 align:middle line:90% They're screaming on the corner. 00:02:30.540 --> 00:02:35.130 align:middle line:84% Although recently, since the era of the cellphone, 00:02:35.130 --> 00:02:39.310 align:middle line:84% I have heard people talking behind me, and I look behind. 00:02:39.310 --> 00:02:41.610 align:middle line:84% And I think it's one of these poor people who 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:44.130 align:middle line:84% are schizophrenic, and they are people walking around 00:02:44.130 --> 00:02:45.780 align:middle line:90% with their cell phones talking. 00:02:45.780 --> 00:02:49.260 align:middle line:84% So I'm not so sure what has happened 00:02:49.260 --> 00:02:52.510 align:middle line:84% in that kind of reality, people talking on cellphones, 00:02:52.510 --> 00:02:54.580 align:middle line:84% and I think they're talking to themselves. 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:56.820 align:middle line:84% And it's a whole new world really. 00:02:56.820 --> 00:03:01.770 align:middle line:84% Garrah is about to die and keep her promise. 00:03:01.770 --> 00:03:03.690 align:middle line:90% Her sister's name is Garrah. 00:03:03.690 --> 00:03:07.090 align:middle line:84% "And go softly, silently, no pain in her sleep. 00:03:07.090 --> 00:03:08.760 align:middle line:90% She just moves on. 00:03:08.760 --> 00:03:10.750 align:middle line:90% Her funeral is within the week. 00:03:10.750 --> 00:03:11.790 align:middle line:90% Where is tomorrow? 00:03:11.790 --> 00:03:12.930 align:middle line:90% Phelia thinks. 00:03:12.930 --> 00:03:17.010 align:middle line:84% She will cremate her as Garrah wanted back to earth. 00:03:17.010 --> 00:03:19.260 align:middle line:84% Spread me in your garden, Phelia. 00:03:19.260 --> 00:03:23.280 align:middle line:84% Let me give you purely what God can touch with his feet, 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.550 align:middle line:84% walk upon in roses, weep in wildflowers, 00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:30.240 align:middle line:84% then you will not grieve," so Garrah said. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:34.470 align:middle line:84% So Phelia makes into song, so her litany 00:03:34.470 --> 00:03:39.630 align:middle line:84% begins, "Garrah lives, she thinks, and then: Announce him. 00:03:39.630 --> 00:03:42.930 align:middle line:84% Phelia remembers Garrah can't desert her flesh. 00:03:42.930 --> 00:03:45.780 align:middle line:84% I thank her for that in my deepest passion. 00:03:45.780 --> 00:03:48.780 align:middle line:84% Pale the prince, that secret litany only 00:03:48.780 --> 00:03:50.580 align:middle line:90% we can speak in tongues. 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:53.370 align:middle line:84% Oh, she smiles comfortably within herself, 00:03:53.370 --> 00:03:54.570 align:middle line:90% that's just the family. 00:03:54.570 --> 00:03:56.040 align:middle line:90% Hallelujah! 00:03:56.040 --> 00:03:58.590 align:middle line:90% Garrah and me, holding on. 00:03:58.590 --> 00:04:01.530 align:middle line:84% Phelia buries part of the ashes in the garden 00:04:01.530 --> 00:04:02.910 align:middle line:90% by her bedroom window. 00:04:02.910 --> 00:04:06.150 align:middle line:84% Something she had nursed and tended like her loves, 00:04:06.150 --> 00:04:09.780 align:middle line:84% the nasturtium, snapdragon, wood lily, 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:14.370 align:middle line:84% rose, hyacinth, sunflower, daffodil, tulip, 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:16.709 align:middle line:90% the lives of her delivery. 00:04:16.709 --> 00:04:19.320 align:middle line:84% Later she would sit for long hours 00:04:19.320 --> 00:04:23.040 align:middle line:84% and eat her garden, in separate flowers one by one. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:27.090 align:middle line:84% And she would feel her madness coming on like a thunderstorm, 00:04:27.090 --> 00:04:29.700 align:middle line:84% meddling its way through the smallest 00:04:29.700 --> 00:04:33.340 align:middle line:90% bud or the tenderest root. 00:04:33.340 --> 00:04:35.070 align:middle line:90% And here she is on the corner. 00:04:35.070 --> 00:04:36.930 align:middle line:90% The city corner is hot. 00:04:36.930 --> 00:04:41.940 align:middle line:84% By now she has completely moved into a schizophrenic existence, 00:04:41.940 --> 00:04:43.230 align:middle line:90% and she's singing. 00:04:43.230 --> 00:04:45.315 align:middle line:84% The summer breeze is slow and teasing, 00:04:45.315 --> 00:04:47.490 align:middle line:90% but Phelia hardly notices. 00:04:47.490 --> 00:04:49.890 align:middle line:84% She clenches her fur around her neck 00:04:49.890 --> 00:04:52.450 align:middle line:84% because she no longer accepts the seasons. 00:04:52.450 --> 00:04:55.470 align:middle line:84% This is her cold, her winter of frugal comforts. 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:56.940 align:middle line:90% She prefers to enjoy it. 00:04:56.940 --> 00:04:59.190 align:middle line:84% Her stockings have slipped, one almost down 00:04:59.190 --> 00:05:01.250 align:middle line:90% to her ankle, the little things. 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:04.340 align:middle line:84% She pinches a few ashes from Garrah's box 00:05:04.340 --> 00:05:05.690 align:middle line:90% and sifts them to the breeze. 00:05:05.690 --> 00:05:06.650 align:middle line:90% People stare. 00:05:06.650 --> 00:05:08.870 align:middle line:84% Garrah's never far away, she murmurs. 00:05:08.870 --> 00:05:13.070 align:middle line:84% And that is my keeping, my blessing on this world because 00:05:13.070 --> 00:05:15.410 align:middle line:84% between the sprinkles of ashes, she 00:05:15.410 --> 00:05:18.050 align:middle line:84% calls not Garrah's name, but His. 00:05:18.050 --> 00:05:20.990 align:middle line:84% And she calls on the Lord, I announce Him. 00:05:20.990 --> 00:05:22.160 align:middle line:90% I announce Him. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.400 align:middle line:84% And she turns and looks Him in the eye. 00:05:25.400 --> 00:05:28.220 align:middle line:84% She is outside of herself, watching herself 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:29.960 align:middle line:90% walk into the corner backwards. 00:05:29.960 --> 00:05:31.790 align:middle line:90% Oh, doesn't she look pretty? 00:05:31.790 --> 00:05:33.170 align:middle line:90% Her heart beats wildly. 00:05:33.170 --> 00:05:34.910 align:middle line:84% She hears it dance within herself. 00:05:34.910 --> 00:05:38.240 align:middle line:84% She sees Jo keeping step, not herself but Jo, 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.670 align:middle line:84% as she releases her words into the supple air. 00:05:40.670 --> 00:05:43.610 align:middle line:84% Roaming children touch her body, whirl her around 00:05:43.610 --> 00:05:45.680 align:middle line:84% until she is dizzy, and the street corner 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:47.420 align:middle line:90% becomes a complex of illusions. 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:50.900 align:middle line:84% The children sing as they turn her about, Little Sally 00:05:50.900 --> 00:05:53.610 align:middle line:90% Walker sitting in a saucer. 00:05:53.610 --> 00:05:55.460 align:middle line:90% Rise, Sally, rise. 00:05:55.460 --> 00:05:58.400 align:middle line:84% Wipe your dirty eyes, put your hands on your hip, 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:00.000 align:middle line:90% and let your backbone slip. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:03.860 align:middle line:84% Oh, shake it to the east and shake it to the west. 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:07.520 align:middle line:84% Shake it to the one that you love the best. 00:06:07.520 --> 00:06:09.530 align:middle line:90% Phelia shivers. 00:06:09.530 --> 00:06:11.840 align:middle line:90% The dizziness engulfs her. 00:06:11.840 --> 00:06:15.320 align:middle line:84% She does not notice their mocking laughter, 00:06:15.320 --> 00:06:19.680 align:middle line:84% nor one girl scamper for a stone to place under her feet. 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:22.010 align:middle line:84% She does not trip, she does not fall. 00:06:22.010 --> 00:06:29.300 align:middle line:84% Now, she is royal, and song and dance are her ablutions. 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:32.570 align:middle line:84% A coming has been invoked, nothing less. 00:06:32.570 --> 00:06:37.940 align:middle line:84% She has seen to it, she is a good provider. 00:06:37.940 --> 00:06:40.010 align:middle line:90% No time for sorrow, woman. 00:06:40.010 --> 00:06:43.460 align:middle line:84% Soon the children scatter and take their voices with them. 00:06:43.460 --> 00:06:48.060 align:middle line:84% She feels a little pain, another absence. 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:49.790 align:middle line:90% Then she sings again. 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:52.800 align:middle line:84% It is the mother song, the daughter 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:57.390 align:middle line:84% song, the song of the first universe, born out of nothing, 00:06:57.390 --> 00:07:01.850 align:middle line:84% the sister song, the song of stars and winds of the night, 00:07:01.850 --> 00:07:05.660 align:middle line:84% the song of Jo in her cold bed, the song of fire and flood, 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:09.350 align:middle line:84% the song of prophecy, the song of denial and hope, 00:07:09.350 --> 00:07:15.650 align:middle line:84% the song of the next morning, already seated in the lung. 00:07:15.650 --> 00:07:18.320 align:middle line:84% There is no death in me, she thinks. 00:07:18.320 --> 00:07:21.860 align:middle line:90% My song is just resting." 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:27.100 align:middle line:84% And in the end, she finishes the song. 00:07:27.100 --> 00:07:29.400 align:middle line:90% I'm skipping through this. 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:32.040 align:middle line:90% And she says, she feels-- 00:07:32.040 --> 00:07:34.680 align:middle line:84% "Heat moves into her eyes, her vision 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:36.540 align:middle line:90% bleeds whenever she handles it. 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:39.240 align:middle line:84% She sprinkles Garrah's ashes into its wounds 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:40.770 align:middle line:90% and attends its call. 00:07:40.770 --> 00:07:43.500 align:middle line:84% I announce him, she sings, and folds 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:46.025 align:middle line:84% her song between each dangerous syllable. 00:07:46.025 --> 00:07:49.950 align:middle line:84% Someone stops to watch as she struggles with an elusive note, 00:07:49.950 --> 00:07:52.980 align:middle line:84% but hears the vanished children's voices in her own. 00:07:52.980 --> 00:07:56.400 align:middle line:84% A piece of her crippled shadow moves against the earth, 00:07:56.400 --> 00:07:57.450 align:middle line:90% softens it. 00:07:57.450 --> 00:08:01.920 align:middle line:84% A small crowd assembles, to which she bows graciously. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.770 align:middle line:90% Everything is complete. 00:08:04.770 --> 00:08:09.610 align:middle line:90% In this, she finds family. 00:08:09.610 --> 00:08:14.980 align:middle line:84% 'Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.' 00:08:14.980 --> 00:08:18.570 align:middle line:84% Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet."