WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.940 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.940 --> 00:00:07.740 align:middle line:84%
To go back to my first
full-length book for a moment,

00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:09.570 align:middle line:90%
I'd like to read a sonnet.

00:00:09.570 --> 00:00:12.940 align:middle line:90%


00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:14.730 align:middle line:84%
So often when you
write a poem, you

00:00:14.730 --> 00:00:16.470 align:middle line:84%
realize it can be
about several things

00:00:16.470 --> 00:00:18.420 align:middle line:84%
or there are several
different readings,

00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:20.790 align:middle line:84%
interpretations that you
could give to the poem.

00:00:20.790 --> 00:00:25.500 align:middle line:84%
And one of the ways I
think about this one

00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:28.650 align:middle line:84%
is that it's about
language and how dependent

00:00:28.650 --> 00:00:30.220 align:middle line:90%
we are on language.

00:00:30.220 --> 00:00:33.780 align:middle line:84%
But also, a theme I keep going
back to in my work from time

00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:34.350 align:middle line:90%
to time--

00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.808 align:middle line:84%
I think this happens to all
writers-- you don't consciously

00:00:36.808 --> 00:00:40.680 align:middle line:84%
try to do this, but the same
themes come up in your work

00:00:40.680 --> 00:00:41.380 align:middle line:90%
again and again.

00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:43.110 align:middle line:84%
And eventually,
you begin to notice

00:00:43.110 --> 00:00:45.540 align:middle line:90%
that you're writing about this.

00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:48.480 align:middle line:84%
And this theme that I
come back to frequently

00:00:48.480 --> 00:00:52.860 align:middle line:84%
is about the desire to have a
connection with other people

00:00:52.860 --> 00:00:57.310 align:middle line:84%
and the other aspect of self
that wants to be protected.

00:00:57.310 --> 00:01:00.000 align:middle line:84%
It's that struggle
between wanting to be open

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.250 align:middle line:84%
and wanting to be
loving and friendly,

00:01:02.250 --> 00:01:04.390 align:middle line:84%
and the other part that
says, but wait a minute,

00:01:04.390 --> 00:01:07.170 align:middle line:84%
this is how you get
hurt, be careful.

00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:11.280 align:middle line:84%
So it's that struggle between
openness and guardedness

00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.520 align:middle line:90%
and also language.

00:01:14.520 --> 00:01:16.530 align:middle line:90%
What I Like.

00:01:16.530 --> 00:01:21.030 align:middle line:84%
Friend, the face I wallow toward
through a scrimmage of shut

00:01:21.030 --> 00:01:22.980 align:middle line:90%
faces.

00:01:22.980 --> 00:01:26.460 align:middle line:84%
Arms like towropes
to haul me home.

00:01:26.460 --> 00:01:30.300 align:middle line:84%
Aide-memoire, my
lost childhood docks.

00:01:30.300 --> 00:01:32.130 align:middle line:90%
A bottled arc in harbor.

00:01:32.130 --> 00:01:40.260 align:middle line:84%
Friend, I can't forget how
even the word contains an end.

00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:43.170 align:middle line:84%
We circle each other
in a scared bolero,

00:01:43.170 --> 00:01:47.040 align:middle line:84%
imagining stratagems,
postures, and imposters.

00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:51.450 align:middle line:90%
Cold convictions keep us so low.

00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:56.940 align:middle line:84%
I ahem and hedge my affections:
who'll blow the first kiss,

00:01:56.940 --> 00:02:02.040 align:middle line:84%
land it like the life forces
we feel tickling at each wrist?

00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:06.300 align:middle line:84%
It should be easy,
easy to take your hand.

00:02:06.300 --> 00:02:10.740 align:middle line:84%
Whisper down this distance
labeled hers or his,

00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:13.130 align:middle line:90%
what I like about you is

00:02:13.130 --> 00:02:14.000 align:middle line:90%