WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.793 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.793 --> 00:00:03.210 align:middle line:84%
On a somewhat
lighter note, I want

00:00:03.210 --> 00:00:07.760 align:middle line:84%
to read the first three parts
from a long poem in progress.

00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:11.160 align:middle line:84%
The poem as a whole is called
"The Wish to Steal a Baby

00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:13.170 align:middle line:90%
in a 15-Year-Old Girl."

00:00:13.170 --> 00:00:16.079 align:middle line:84%
The title comes from a journal
called Psychoanalytic Studies

00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:16.650 align:middle line:90%
of the Child.

00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:18.997 align:middle line:84%
And I have to confess I
didn't read the article.

00:00:18.997 --> 00:00:20.580 align:middle line:84%
And so far in the
poem, there's a girl

00:00:20.580 --> 00:00:23.490 align:middle line:84%
but there's not yet
a baby, all right?

00:00:23.490 --> 00:00:25.800 align:middle line:84%
One section rhymes, more or
less, and another section

00:00:25.800 --> 00:00:28.470 align:middle line:84%
is a very modified sestina so
that there's some repetition

00:00:28.470 --> 00:00:30.510 align:middle line:90%
of words in it, as well.

00:00:30.510 --> 00:00:35.090 align:middle line:90%


00:00:35.090 --> 00:00:38.060 align:middle line:84%
"The Wish to Steal a Baby
in a 15-Year-Old Girl."

00:00:38.060 --> 00:00:39.680 align:middle line:90%
"One.

00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:43.190 align:middle line:84%
The wish to steal a baby in a
15-year-old girl filled things

00:00:43.190 --> 00:00:47.060 align:middle line:84%
up, and you could watch
them exhale it slowly--

00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:49.130 align:middle line:90%
thoughts and emotions.

00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:52.040 align:middle line:84%
The examination
was made with care.

00:00:52.040 --> 00:00:54.020 align:middle line:84%
Then the moving
men were careful,

00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:56.210 align:middle line:90%
and the furniture was scratched.

00:00:56.210 --> 00:00:59.390 align:middle line:90%
It came walling into the world.

00:00:59.390 --> 00:01:02.120 align:middle line:84%
What can you see out
your window, young man?

00:01:02.120 --> 00:01:05.030 align:middle line:84%
I see trees in the wind
at my window waving.

00:01:05.030 --> 00:01:08.180 align:middle line:84%
Imperfections in the
glass make them wobble.

00:01:08.180 --> 00:01:11.240 align:middle line:84%
I see ivy on the outside
wall at my window

00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:13.670 align:middle line:90%
looking ruffled and red.

00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:15.800 align:middle line:90%
Autumn embarrassed the ivy.

00:01:15.800 --> 00:01:18.650 align:middle line:84%
It flew on the helpful
breeze in the open window

00:01:18.650 --> 00:01:21.050 align:middle line:84%
and lay there
mumbling on the floor.

00:01:21.050 --> 00:01:24.290 align:middle line:84%
He picked it up in pieces
and put it in a bowl.

00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:26.330 align:middle line:90%
The pieces didn't fit.

00:01:26.330 --> 00:01:28.760 align:middle line:90%
They settled down some, though.

00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:31.580 align:middle line:84%
To whom do these leaves
belong, young man?

00:01:31.580 --> 00:01:34.880 align:middle line:84%
In a state of nature, to anyone
who should happen by and pick

00:01:34.880 --> 00:01:38.060 align:middle line:84%
them up; thereafter to him
who should cultivate them

00:01:38.060 --> 00:01:40.460 align:middle line:90%
for his reasonable use.

00:01:40.460 --> 00:01:43.250 align:middle line:84%
They placed the bowl very
close to the open window

00:01:43.250 --> 00:01:46.550 align:middle line:84%
so the leaves could discuss
it among themselves.

00:01:46.550 --> 00:01:51.170 align:middle line:84%
It learned its lesson
and quieted passion.

00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:53.300 align:middle line:90%
Two.

00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:56.540 align:middle line:84%
The wish to steal a baby in a
15-year-old girl filled things

00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:59.660 align:middle line:84%
up, and you could watch
them exhale it slowly--

00:01:59.660 --> 00:02:01.280 align:middle line:90%
thoughts and emotions.

00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:03.560 align:middle line:84%
The examination
was made like a bed

00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:05.690 align:middle line:90%
in which she was put to sleep.

00:02:05.690 --> 00:02:07.280 align:middle line:84%
She would lie where
they placed her

00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.530 align:middle line:84%
in moonlight to keep
the thinking awake,

00:02:09.530 --> 00:02:11.690 align:middle line:90%
which heard murmured voices.

00:02:11.690 --> 00:02:14.540 align:middle line:84%
The night drew closer
in congregations,

00:02:14.540 --> 00:02:17.420 align:middle line:84%
whispering somebody
else's passions.

00:02:17.420 --> 00:02:21.080 align:middle line:84%
Through branches, forms
drifted and caught.

00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:23.810 align:middle line:84%
Below her, the words
were making their choices

00:02:23.810 --> 00:02:27.470 align:middle line:84%
like places in thinking
where things disappear.

00:02:27.470 --> 00:02:29.240 align:middle line:84%
Her fingers played
over the sheet

00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:33.680 align:middle line:84%
like a hem of a gown of a
mother who put her to sleep.

00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:35.480 align:middle line:90%
First, she would see them.

00:02:35.480 --> 00:02:37.400 align:middle line:90%
Next, she would be them.

00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.910 align:middle line:84%
If she could sleep, she
might dream and free them.

00:02:40.910 --> 00:02:43.610 align:middle line:84%
If she could not, they
would fill up her thought,

00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:46.970 align:middle line:84%
mumbling like leaves in a
living room bowl which whispered

00:02:46.970 --> 00:02:49.310 align:middle line:90%
and breathed like a soul.

00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:51.980 align:middle line:84%
She wanted to howl so
that someone could hear.

00:02:51.980 --> 00:02:55.160 align:middle line:84%
The night perched,
watching her like an owl.

00:02:55.160 --> 00:02:56.870 align:middle line:90%
Was no one near?

00:02:56.870 --> 00:03:00.260 align:middle line:84%
The night was near and could
either increase or quiet

00:03:00.260 --> 00:03:01.370 align:middle line:90%
her fear.

00:03:01.370 --> 00:03:06.170 align:middle line:84%
She fingered the hem and
thought she was them.

00:03:06.170 --> 00:03:07.970 align:middle line:90%
Three.

00:03:07.970 --> 00:03:10.700 align:middle line:84%
The wish to steal a baby
in a 15-year-old girl

00:03:10.700 --> 00:03:14.300 align:middle line:84%
filled things up, and you could
watch them exhale it slowly.

00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:16.370 align:middle line:84%
Thoughts and
emotions pulsed, then

00:03:16.370 --> 00:03:18.020 align:middle line:84%
hovered like the
leaves, which beat

00:03:18.020 --> 00:03:20.000 align:middle line:90%
in wind against the window.

00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.240 align:middle line:84%
If they blew into the room,
you would place them in a bowl.

00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:24.890 align:middle line:90%
There was no bowl.

00:03:24.890 --> 00:03:28.370 align:middle line:84%
Your hands waved like branches
as you ran to the open window.

00:03:28.370 --> 00:03:30.830 align:middle line:84%
Already, the room was
streaming with leaves,

00:03:30.830 --> 00:03:34.670 align:middle line:84%
their shapes and colors tangled
with thoughts and emotions.

00:03:34.670 --> 00:03:38.210 align:middle line:84%
In panic, you tried to
sort and separate them.

00:03:38.210 --> 00:03:41.450 align:middle line:84%
It was like an examination in
which the questions filled you

00:03:41.450 --> 00:03:44.330 align:middle line:84%
with fear, the answer
was kept in the dark,

00:03:44.330 --> 00:03:47.780 align:middle line:84%
and you had been placed in
a bed and told to sleep.

00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:49.790 align:middle line:84%
You clutched at
sleep like the hem

00:03:49.790 --> 00:03:53.660 align:middle line:84%
of the last glimmer of daylight
trailed into a lesson which

00:03:53.660 --> 00:03:56.000 align:middle line:90%
deepened and made you weep.

00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:58.460 align:middle line:84%
Thoughts and emotions
swirled in the mind

00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:00.620 align:middle line:90%
like leaves in an enormous bowl.

00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:02.870 align:middle line:84%
You were examined
by fear, and night

00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:06.890 align:middle line:84%
was the lesson in which even
a sleeping child would weep

00:04:06.890 --> 00:04:10.570 align:middle line:84%
and clutch at the hem
of a disappearing gown."

00:04:10.570 --> 00:04:12.082 align:middle line:90%