WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.440 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:05.690 align:middle line:84% Now, I want to go back for the rest of the reading 00:00:05.690 --> 00:00:11.990 align:middle line:84% and read chronologically starting 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:15.290 align:middle line:90% with a few poems from The Lice. 00:00:15.290 --> 00:00:19.970 align:middle line:84% I'm not going to read everything from every book. 00:00:19.970 --> 00:00:36.780 align:middle line:84% But sometimes, even now, someone will come and say, 00:00:36.780 --> 00:00:39.870 align:middle line:84% that one's concerns-- that my concerns writing poetry 00:00:39.870 --> 00:00:41.440 align:middle line:90% have a lot to do with ecology. 00:00:41.440 --> 00:00:43.740 align:middle line:90% So you're into ecology-- 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:45.990 align:middle line:84% that things like that interest you. 00:00:45.990 --> 00:00:52.470 align:middle line:84% Do you-- sort of like and what do you do, I mean-- 00:00:52.470 --> 00:00:53.958 align:middle line:90% do you collect stamps? 00:00:53.958 --> 00:00:54.750 align:middle line:90% Anything like that. 00:00:54.750 --> 00:00:57.390 align:middle line:90% 00:00:57.390 --> 00:00:58.965 align:middle line:84% It always seemed to me rather strange 00:00:58.965 --> 00:01:00.090 align:middle line:90% because I couldn't imagine. 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:04.170 align:middle line:84% I thought that if you weren't interested in these things, 00:01:04.170 --> 00:01:06.840 align:middle line:84% you were hoping that you were going to grow up to the point 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:07.470 align:middle line:90% where you were. 00:01:07.470 --> 00:01:10.410 align:middle line:84% I mean, I can't imagine living in a world 00:01:10.410 --> 00:01:14.010 align:middle line:90% and not wanting the whole world. 00:01:14.010 --> 00:01:17.640 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:20.400 align:middle line:90% I think that to be-- 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.130 align:middle line:84% specietal chauvinism is as bad as any other kind 00:01:23.130 --> 00:01:24.170 align:middle line:90% of chauvinism. 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:28.950 align:middle line:84% To think that human kind can survive alone 00:01:28.950 --> 00:01:30.780 align:middle line:84% among all forms of life, which seems 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:33.390 align:middle line:84% to be fairly widespread assumption, 00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:38.010 align:middle line:90% is a really weird one. 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:40.380 align:middle line:90% And I'm happy to find-- 00:01:40.380 --> 00:01:44.850 align:middle line:84% I just can't think that it would be possible to write poetry 00:01:44.850 --> 00:01:46.470 align:middle line:90% without loving the world. 00:01:46.470 --> 00:01:51.480 align:middle line:84% And I would think that you would realize somehow 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:52.860 align:middle line:90% that the world was all one. 00:01:52.860 --> 00:01:56.040 align:middle line:84% And that you couldn't be a matter of indifference 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:58.608 align:middle line:84% whether there were trees around as well as whether there 00:01:58.608 --> 00:01:59.400 align:middle line:90% were people around. 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:04.440 align:middle line:90% 00:02:04.440 --> 00:02:06.510 align:middle line:84% Besides which, I can remember being 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:09.930 align:middle line:84% upset about trees when I was very small 00:02:09.930 --> 00:02:15.300 align:middle line:84% and getting very angry when one was cut down. 00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:18.390 align:middle line:84% Obviously, I've been feeling-- having this prejudice 00:02:18.390 --> 00:02:21.690 align:middle line:90% for a very long time. 00:02:21.690 --> 00:02:23.910 align:middle line:84% I want to start by reading a poem that 00:02:23.910 --> 00:02:26.550 align:middle line:84% has to do with, I suppose, it's trees. 00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:28.620 align:middle line:90% I don't know what it is. 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:30.150 align:middle line:90% They behave like trees, anyway. 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:34.390 align:middle line:90% 00:02:34.390 --> 00:02:37.840 align:middle line:84% I think of that line of Stevens, before you 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:40.240 align:middle line:84% come to the last black cataracts and trees that 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:41.755 align:middle line:90% lack the intelligence of trees. 00:02:41.755 --> 00:02:46.120 align:middle line:90% 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:47.800 align:middle line:84% This poem is called "The Last One." 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:50.833 align:middle line:90% 00:02:50.833 --> 00:02:52.250 align:middle line:84% "Well, they've made up their minds 00:02:52.250 --> 00:02:55.160 align:middle line:84% to be everywhere, because why not? 00:02:55.160 --> 00:02:58.430 align:middle line:84% Everywhere was theirs because they thought so. 00:02:58.430 --> 00:03:02.000 align:middle line:84% They with two leaves, they whom the birds despise. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.910 align:middle line:84% In the middle of stones, they made up their minds. 00:03:04.910 --> 00:03:08.140 align:middle line:90% They started to cut. 00:03:08.140 --> 00:03:10.780 align:middle line:84% Well, they cut everything, because why not? 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:13.780 align:middle line:84% Everything was theirs because they thought so. 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:15.100 align:middle line:90% It fell into its shadows. 00:03:15.100 --> 00:03:20.670 align:middle line:84% And they took both away, some to have, some for burning. 00:03:20.670 --> 00:03:23.250 align:middle line:84% Well cutting everything, they came to the water. 00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:26.955 align:middle line:84% They came to the end of the day, there was one left standing. 00:03:26.955 --> 00:03:28.080 align:middle line:90% They would cut it tomorrow. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:29.820 align:middle line:90% They went away. 00:03:29.820 --> 00:03:32.880 align:middle line:84% The night gathered in the last branches. 00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:36.480 align:middle line:84% The shadow of the night gathered in the shadow on the water. 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:39.510 align:middle line:84% The night in the shadow put on the same head, 00:03:39.510 --> 00:03:43.050 align:middle line:90% and it said, now. 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:45.810 align:middle line:84% Well, in the morning they cut the last one. 00:03:45.810 --> 00:03:48.870 align:middle line:84% Like the others, the last one felt into its shadow. 00:03:48.870 --> 00:03:51.150 align:middle line:84% It fell into its shadow on the water. 00:03:51.150 --> 00:03:51.960 align:middle line:90% They took it away. 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:55.717 align:middle line:90% Its shadow stayed on the water. 00:03:55.717 --> 00:03:56.550 align:middle line:90% Well, they shrugged. 00:03:56.550 --> 00:03:59.520 align:middle line:84% They started trying to get the shadow away. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:00.780 align:middle line:90% They cut right to the ground. 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:02.610 align:middle line:90% The shadow stayed whole. 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:03.720 align:middle line:90% They laid boards on it. 00:04:03.720 --> 00:04:05.850 align:middle line:90% The shadow came out on top. 00:04:05.850 --> 00:04:06.960 align:middle line:90% They shone lights on it. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.260 align:middle line:84% The shadow got blacker and clearer. 00:04:10.260 --> 00:04:11.370 align:middle line:90% They exploded the water. 00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:13.080 align:middle line:90% The shadow rocked. 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:16.019 align:middle line:84% They built a huge fire on the roots. 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:20.339 align:middle line:84% They set up black smoke between the shadow and the sun. 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:24.107 align:middle line:84% The new shadow flowed without changing the old one. 00:04:24.107 --> 00:04:24.690 align:middle line:90% They shrugged. 00:04:24.690 --> 00:04:27.180 align:middle line:90% They went away to get stones. 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:27.900 align:middle line:90% They came back. 00:04:27.900 --> 00:04:29.940 align:middle line:90% The shadow was growing. 00:04:29.940 --> 00:04:31.380 align:middle line:90% They started setting up stones. 00:04:31.380 --> 00:04:32.727 align:middle line:90% It was growing. 00:04:32.727 --> 00:04:33.810 align:middle line:90% They looked the other way. 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:35.670 align:middle line:90% It went on growing. 00:04:35.670 --> 00:04:38.290 align:middle line:84% They decided they would make a stone out of it. 00:04:38.290 --> 00:04:39.630 align:middle line:90% They took stones to the water. 00:04:39.630 --> 00:04:41.340 align:middle line:84% They poured them into the shadow. 00:04:41.340 --> 00:04:42.240 align:middle line:90% They poured them in. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.940 align:middle line:84% They poured them in the stones, vanished. 00:04:44.940 --> 00:04:46.110 align:middle line:90% The shadow was not filled. 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:48.030 align:middle line:90% It went on growing. 00:04:48.030 --> 00:04:50.490 align:middle line:90% That was one day. 00:04:50.490 --> 00:04:51.850 align:middle line:90% The next day was just the same. 00:04:51.850 --> 00:04:53.490 align:middle line:90% It went on growing. 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:54.960 align:middle line:90% They did all the same things. 00:04:54.960 --> 00:04:56.730 align:middle line:90% It was just the same. 00:04:56.730 --> 00:04:59.550 align:middle line:84% They decided to take its water from under it. 00:04:59.550 --> 00:05:00.480 align:middle line:90% They took away water. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:01.230 align:middle line:90% They took it away. 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:02.940 align:middle line:90% The water went down. 00:05:02.940 --> 00:05:05.790 align:middle line:84% The shadow stayed where it was before. 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:06.720 align:middle line:90% It went on growing. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.730 align:middle line:90% It grew onto the land. 00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:11.640 align:middle line:84% They started to scrape the shadow with machines. 00:05:11.640 --> 00:05:14.550 align:middle line:84% When it touched the machines, it stayed on them. 00:05:14.550 --> 00:05:17.040 align:middle line:84% They started to beat the shadow with sticks. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.430 align:middle line:84% Where it touched the sticks, it stayed on them. 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:23.100 align:middle line:84% They started to beat the shadow with hands. 00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:26.260 align:middle line:84% Where it touched the hands, it stayed on them. 00:05:26.260 --> 00:05:28.680 align:middle line:90% That was another day. 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:30.670 align:middle line:84% Well, the next day they started about the same. 00:05:30.670 --> 00:05:31.980 align:middle line:90% It went on growing. 00:05:31.980 --> 00:05:33.870 align:middle line:84% They pushed lights into the shadow. 00:05:33.870 --> 00:05:36.720 align:middle line:84% Where the shadow got onto them they went out. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:38.070 align:middle line:90% They began to stomp on the edge. 00:05:38.070 --> 00:05:39.480 align:middle line:90% It got their feet. 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:42.330 align:middle line:84% And when it got their feet, they fell down. 00:05:42.330 --> 00:05:43.350 align:middle line:90% It got into eyes. 00:05:43.350 --> 00:05:45.090 align:middle line:90% The eyes went blind. 00:05:45.090 --> 00:05:48.330 align:middle line:84% The ones that fell down, it grew over and they vanished. 00:05:48.330 --> 00:05:51.480 align:middle line:84% The ones that went blind and walked into it, vanished. 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.700 align:middle line:84% The ones that could see and stood still, 00:05:53.700 --> 00:05:55.770 align:middle line:90% it swallowed their shadows. 00:05:55.770 --> 00:05:58.620 align:middle line:84% Then it swallowed them too and they vanished. 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:00.570 align:middle line:90% Well, the others ran. 00:06:00.570 --> 00:06:02.010 align:middle line:84% The ones that were left went away 00:06:02.010 --> 00:06:04.350 align:middle line:90% to live if it would let them. 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:07.050 align:middle line:84% They went as far as they could, the lucky ones 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:08.990 align:middle line:90% with their shadows. 00:06:08.990 --> 00:06:10.000 align:middle line:90%