WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.768 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.768 --> 00:00:06.594 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:00:06.594 --> 00:00:07.432 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.432 --> 00:00:09.640 align:middle line:84%
So the thing you want to
know about when a poet reads

00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:12.440 align:middle line:84%
new poems, it means if you
ever should see them again,

00:00:12.440 --> 00:00:13.360 align:middle line:90%
they may be different.

00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:15.235 align:middle line:84%
Who knows, you may not
recognize them, right?

00:00:15.235 --> 00:00:16.210 align:middle line:90%
But here they are.

00:00:16.210 --> 00:00:17.500 align:middle line:90%
You get them in their--

00:00:17.500 --> 00:00:20.905 align:middle line:84%
not quite raw state, but their
on the way to cooked state.

00:00:20.905 --> 00:00:24.070 align:middle line:90%


00:00:24.070 --> 00:00:27.100 align:middle line:90%
"Imperative."

00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:30.520 align:middle line:84%
"He's my age, the man leaning
dark against his storefront

00:00:30.520 --> 00:00:32.710 align:middle line:84%
window ledge, hair
and beard dusted

00:00:32.710 --> 00:00:37.030 align:middle line:84%
white, face impressed with
a frazzled net of lines.

00:00:37.030 --> 00:00:39.400 align:middle line:84%
He doesn't attempt
to please or seem

00:00:39.400 --> 00:00:43.810 align:middle line:84%
in need but practices all day
a toneless, steady neutrality,

00:00:43.810 --> 00:00:47.710 align:middle line:84%
repeating his
monosyllabic plea, change.

00:00:47.710 --> 00:00:49.720 align:middle line:84%
In this way, he
resembles a prisoner

00:00:49.720 --> 00:00:52.450 align:middle line:84%
who's learned to show almost
no deference to his guards,

00:00:52.450 --> 00:00:53.920 align:middle line:90%
nothing of abasement.

00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.360 align:middle line:84%
He's a barely rippling tank of
dark water, superbly contained.

00:00:58.360 --> 00:01:00.550 align:middle line:90%
He submits to a precise degree.

00:01:00.550 --> 00:01:02.590 align:middle line:90%
He's had years to gauge.

00:01:02.590 --> 00:01:07.180 align:middle line:84%
Change, he says all day,
fixed in his spot on seventh.

00:01:07.180 --> 00:01:10.030 align:middle line:84%
The word a key he tries
again, hoping this time

00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:11.440 align:middle line:90%
the tumblers turn.

00:01:11.440 --> 00:01:14.890 align:middle line:84%
His voice at night more driven,
change, as if he meant to chip

00:01:14.890 --> 00:01:15.880 align:middle line:90%
away at something.

00:01:15.880 --> 00:01:19.270 align:middle line:84%
The word falling hard on the
sidewalk's flint and shadow,

00:01:19.270 --> 00:01:22.560 align:middle line:84%
ringing on the
pavement like a dime."

00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:24.000 align:middle line:90%