WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.390 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.390 --> 00:00:05.730 align:middle line:84%
Well, as you all know better
than I do because I've only

00:00:05.730 --> 00:00:08.070 align:middle line:84%
been here about 10
days, the Southwest

00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:10.470 align:middle line:90%
is a very healing place.

00:00:10.470 --> 00:00:15.180 align:middle line:84%
And I found myself
here one summer--

00:00:15.180 --> 00:00:18.120 align:middle line:90%
here in New Mexico, I mean--

00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:22.050 align:middle line:84%
and wrote what I hope is one
of my more tranquil poems.

00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:24.930 align:middle line:84%
It's written-- named after
the late great painter

00:00:24.930 --> 00:00:28.060 align:middle line:84%
of our century,
Georgia O'Keeffe.

00:00:28.060 --> 00:00:29.450 align:middle line:90%
"O'Keeffian."

00:00:29.450 --> 00:00:32.710 align:middle line:90%


00:00:32.710 --> 00:00:37.480 align:middle line:84%
"Through the windows, a
piñon with its precious nut,

00:00:37.480 --> 00:00:41.230 align:middle line:84%
each which must be picked
and peeled by hand,

00:00:41.230 --> 00:00:43.930 align:middle line:90%
darkens in bloom.

00:00:43.930 --> 00:00:48.040 align:middle line:84%
And the old dogs,
called in, sleep.

00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:55.330 align:middle line:84%
And the soft adobe cools by lamp
to crimson and, too, darkens.

00:00:55.330 --> 00:00:59.440 align:middle line:84%
I am alone and no one I know
for a good 1,000 miles--

00:00:59.440 --> 00:01:00.340 align:middle line:90%
what the hell?

00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:04.480 align:middle line:84%
Freedom to scale, and
no one to call to.

00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:07.480 align:middle line:84%
For months, I have
lived for the day

00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:11.500 align:middle line:84%
I could reconcile my
anger with my wish simply

00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:14.020 align:middle line:90%
to start over as your lover.

00:01:14.020 --> 00:01:19.390 align:middle line:84%
And now, with my heart,
content as the ancient ocean,

00:01:19.390 --> 00:01:22.990 align:middle line:84%
both figured into
desert and alone,

00:01:22.990 --> 00:01:27.310 align:middle line:84%
I release you as heat
transforms the apricot and peach

00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:31.720 align:middle line:84%
trees painted on the
desert of the year I hurt,

00:01:31.720 --> 00:01:35.380 align:middle line:84%
each beetle,
centipede, black widow,

00:01:35.380 --> 00:01:40.810 align:middle line:84%
what I am supposed to look
out for, like the rattler, who

00:01:40.810 --> 00:01:45.970 align:middle line:84%
contains my death more than any
other, I also love and more,

00:01:45.970 --> 00:01:50.230 align:middle line:84%
for the love is to love the
most feared on this red Earth,

00:01:50.230 --> 00:01:54.730 align:middle line:84%
with its heaven dark blue
like I imagine the mind,

00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:59.710 align:middle line:84%
because the body doesn't have
to question day all night,

00:01:59.710 --> 00:02:06.270 align:middle line:84%
nor the invisible moon on
whom I practice your face."

00:02:06.270 --> 00:02:08.000 align:middle line:90%