WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.940 align:middle line:90% 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:08.630 align:middle line:84% So the next part of the book is a long poem 00:00:08.630 --> 00:00:10.820 align:middle line:90% of 64 poems and six-- 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:13.550 align:middle line:84% more than 64 pages-- but 64 poems, 00:00:13.550 --> 00:00:15.980 align:middle line:84% and it's four sections, 16 poems each. 00:00:15.980 --> 00:00:18.500 align:middle line:90% 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:21.810 align:middle line:84% And the poem is titled The Maybe-Bird, 00:00:21.810 --> 00:00:24.210 align:middle line:90% which is the title of the book. 00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:27.620 align:middle line:84% I won't go into too much detail, but a little bit 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:29.000 align:middle line:90% about the structure. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.220 align:middle line:90% 00:00:32.220 --> 00:00:37.710 align:middle line:84% So of the four pieces, there's a lot of repetition that occurs, 00:00:37.710 --> 00:00:41.880 align:middle line:84% and in short, the first poem and the last poem 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:46.410 align:middle line:84% of each of the four sections must only be 16 lines. 00:00:46.410 --> 00:00:50.430 align:middle line:84% And I wrote the first poem, and then I 00:00:50.430 --> 00:00:53.950 align:middle line:84% decided what happens in between all the spaces. 00:00:53.950 --> 00:00:56.640 align:middle line:84% So I wrote a poem for each line, so each line 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:58.980 align:middle line:84% had to be-- so kind of like a crown of sonnets. 00:00:58.980 --> 00:01:03.150 align:middle line:84% Each line-- so then I wrote 16 poems for each of the lines 00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:05.290 align:middle line:90% in the first poem. 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:07.640 align:middle line:84% And then I got to the end, and I thought, well, 00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:09.010 align:middle line:90% let's do another 16. 00:01:09.010 --> 00:01:12.280 align:middle line:84% So the 16th poem, each line became a new poem, 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:13.330 align:middle line:90% and that was section two. 00:01:13.330 --> 00:01:16.380 align:middle line:84% And I did the same thing four times. 00:01:16.380 --> 00:01:20.010 align:middle line:84% And then I decided everything weaves back on itself, 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.080 align:middle line:84% and I was thinking-- a long story-- 00:01:22.080 --> 00:01:27.750 align:middle line:84% about rope splicing and the center of the lake, 00:01:27.750 --> 00:01:31.230 align:middle line:84% and how necessary that rope is sometimes. 00:01:31.230 --> 00:01:34.680 align:middle line:84% When we get too close to the center, something to pull us 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:38.100 align:middle line:84% back, living in that balance between the very center 00:01:38.100 --> 00:01:42.660 align:middle line:84% of the lake, which could be oblivion, and the shore. 00:01:42.660 --> 00:01:45.300 align:middle line:84% So I spliced the rope back, so then I 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:48.390 align:middle line:84% decided the first poem would also 00:01:48.390 --> 00:01:51.390 align:middle line:84% have a line from the last section-- that was number two, 00:01:51.390 --> 00:01:52.480 align:middle line:90% and blah, blah, blah. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.200 align:middle line:84% So anyway, it got very complicated. 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:54.700 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHS] 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.200 align:middle line:84% And if you look at the book, there's 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:01.380 align:middle line:84% a picture in the back, which is the drawing of the process. 00:02:01.380 --> 00:02:05.160 align:middle line:84% And if [LAUGHS] anyone ever, as a weaver, would do this, 00:02:05.160 --> 00:02:06.040 align:middle line:90% I would love-- 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:11.100 align:middle line:84% I'm trying to do it with actual materials, but it's hard. 00:02:11.100 --> 00:02:13.640 align:middle line:84% So anyway, that's all to say you'll hear some repetitions. 00:02:13.640 --> 00:02:21.410 align:middle line:90% 00:02:21.410 --> 00:02:26.910 align:middle line:84% "I wear a dress not of time's poisoned quills. 00:02:26.910 --> 00:02:31.380 align:middle line:84% Still, I sleep within my two bodies, 00:02:31.380 --> 00:02:38.660 align:middle line:84% a poison wearing a quill dress of ours for our dim procession. 00:02:38.660 --> 00:02:45.140 align:middle line:84% Each day we wake to a feedback loop of anoxic oceans 00:02:45.140 --> 00:02:50.390 align:middle line:84% where each wave a blank page to begin with. 00:02:50.390 --> 00:02:55.000 align:middle line:84% The sound of my immaterial twin, the deafening arts 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.800 align:middle line:84% of repetition, tinkling rush of shells against the shores, 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:03.340 align:middle line:84% sculptured mantle, her other self 00:03:03.340 --> 00:03:07.120 align:middle line:90% plotting her reckless escape. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:10.660 align:middle line:84% Not yet for death, would she heave her body 00:03:10.660 --> 00:03:13.150 align:middle line:90% from these waves? 00:03:13.150 --> 00:03:18.540 align:middle line:84% I've become, of my two selves, the confluence. 00:03:18.540 --> 00:03:21.690 align:middle line:84% When the flood returns to swallow the earth, 00:03:21.690 --> 00:03:27.550 align:middle line:84% the day will seem a tranquil derangement. 00:03:27.550 --> 00:03:31.190 align:middle line:84% Most will gather in the interior. 00:03:31.190 --> 00:03:35.500 align:middle line:84% Those left behind will be lost together." 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:36.000 align:middle line:90%