I don't know if that's the way it'll work.
There was a very good one about cows in here.
Cows.
This is a horrible-- there's a book of poetry.
Do you know this book of poetry that was written by AI?
Have you heard about this book that Little, Brown published
that got-- these poets got an advance more than any of us
will ever get.
You could put 75 of us together, and we still
wouldn't get that advance.
It's so insane.
So these poets came to me, and they said--
they're asking me and Sharon Olds--
Sharon Olds asked a few poets if we would read their manuscript
and tell them what we think.
And I was like, fuck them.
But that particular day, all these things
had happened like rats ate the wires in my Prius,
and my car wouldn't go.
And then-- one bad thing.
And then my dog was having surgery, and I got a ticket.
And so I just wrote them, and I said,
if you would pay my parking ticket, I'll meet with you.
And I'll--
[LAUGHTER]
So he was all, OK, but can I use that in the introduction?
I said fine.
So that's really the end of the story, except it is a poem.
It's called "Feeder."
"The embodiment of the poet is the point,
and that's why it's OK for you to pay my parking ticket--
especially to pay it in cash.
And not because of the cute anecdote
about the car, and the rats, and the rental, and the dog
surgery, and parking in front of the hydrant,
and getting towed, and getting a ticket for that,
and you paid it.
I will pay the ticket on my computer,
but I will buy food with your cash.
It's why nobody likes to support poetry.
They'll just use it to pay their rent, which is right.
Survival is my art-- a violent act it is."
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
Woo!