WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 align:middle line:90% Hi, everyone. 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:04.370 align:middle line:90% It's good to see you. 00:00:04.370 --> 00:00:05.920 align:middle line:90% It's good to be in Tucson. 00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:09.370 align:middle line:84% Thank you so much, Tyler, and the Poetry Center, 00:00:09.370 --> 00:00:13.600 align:middle line:84% and ALTA including Lissie, and Kelsi, and everyone 00:00:13.600 --> 00:00:19.460 align:middle line:84% who has worked and contributed to making these few days 00:00:19.460 --> 00:00:19.960 align:middle line:90% happen. 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:22.760 align:middle line:90% I'm really excited to be here. 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.780 align:middle line:84% I'm also getting used to the resonance of this place-- 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:27.790 align:middle line:90% maybe, it's too close. 00:00:27.790 --> 00:00:30.760 align:middle line:90% I can adjust. 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:32.530 align:middle line:90% I will read some poems. 00:00:32.530 --> 00:00:39.310 align:middle line:84% I'm going to start with some new, ant poems, which 00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:43.510 align:middle line:84% I didn't know I would have more ant poems in my life. 00:00:43.510 --> 00:00:47.680 align:middle line:84% But I've already written a whole book called The Ants. 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:55.240 align:middle line:84% And it seems definitive, but I stole that book title too 00:00:55.240 --> 00:01:00.500 align:middle line:84% from the Pulitzer Prize winning, non-fiction book about ants. 00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:05.330 align:middle line:84% So I joined, I infiltrated the greats just on my own. 00:01:05.330 --> 00:01:06.950 align:middle line:90% You can confuse me. 00:01:06.950 --> 00:01:13.820 align:middle line:84% Anyway, these ants came into my life last year. 00:01:13.820 --> 00:01:18.530 align:middle line:84% And this first one is called "Three Ants Crawling 00:01:18.530 --> 00:01:23.540 align:middle line:84% the Surface of the Moon are met with three humans. 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:27.410 align:middle line:84% The ants roll their eyes at the predictable questions 00:01:27.410 --> 00:01:30.350 align:middle line:84% of the humans: are they making a pilgrimage? 00:01:30.350 --> 00:01:32.690 align:middle line:84% Are they individual ants or part of a group? 00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:34.340 align:middle line:84% Have they arrived of their own accord? 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:36.980 align:middle line:84% Or have they been placed there by external forces? 00:01:36.980 --> 00:01:38.690 align:middle line:84% Is that light reflecting off of their 00:01:38.690 --> 00:01:41.330 align:middle line:84% backs a consequence of our observational process 00:01:41.330 --> 00:01:42.390 align:middle line:90% or something else? 00:01:42.390 --> 00:01:43.490 align:middle line:90% Are they on a mission? 00:01:43.490 --> 00:01:44.600 align:middle line:90% Do they have a purpose? 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:46.880 align:middle line:84% Are they trying to do anything specific at all? 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:48.350 align:middle line:90% Are they on the edge of a cliff? 00:01:48.350 --> 00:01:49.850 align:middle line:90% Or are they on stable footing? 00:01:49.850 --> 00:01:51.530 align:middle line:84% Are there any other creatures with them 00:01:51.530 --> 00:01:52.880 align:middle line:90% or are they all alone? 00:01:52.880 --> 00:01:53.840 align:middle line:90% What about gravity? 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:55.400 align:middle line:84% What about gravity and the three ants 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.450 align:middle line:84% crawling and wailing on the surface of the moon? 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:02.300 align:middle line:90% Who said anything about wailing? 00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:05.420 align:middle line:84% Who said anything about the existence of humans? 00:02:05.420 --> 00:02:08.210 align:middle line:84% Who said ants had enough of a spiritual bone 00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:11.390 align:middle line:84% to go on a pilgrimage to the moon or anywhere? 00:02:11.390 --> 00:02:14.120 align:middle line:84% Who said the ants would be a group, a group of three? 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:16.340 align:middle line:84% Who is to say there are exactly three ants? 00:02:16.340 --> 00:02:17.960 align:middle line:90% What about the invisible ants? 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:19.880 align:middle line:84% What about the yet to arrive ants? 00:02:19.880 --> 00:02:22.880 align:middle line:84% What about all the ants that just died yesterday? 00:02:22.880 --> 00:02:24.890 align:middle line:84% Who said they have arrived at all? 00:02:24.890 --> 00:02:27.080 align:middle line:84% Who feels certain that this was their destination 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:28.070 align:middle line:90% in the first place? 00:02:28.070 --> 00:02:31.100 align:middle line:84% Who feels certain even of the light reflecting off 00:02:31.100 --> 00:02:31.820 align:middle line:90% of their backs? 00:02:31.820 --> 00:02:34.640 align:middle line:84% Who can be so sure that it's not a glint reflecting off 00:02:34.640 --> 00:02:36.200 align:middle line:90% of something else entirely? 00:02:36.200 --> 00:02:38.180 align:middle line:84% Who is to keep counting or not counting 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:40.040 align:middle line:84% as if the numbers of creatures on the moon 00:02:40.040 --> 00:02:41.480 align:middle line:90% was a countable question? 00:02:41.480 --> 00:02:43.100 align:middle line:84% Who said anything about a mission, 00:02:43.100 --> 00:02:45.110 align:middle line:84% as if the ants were human or something 00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:47.540 align:middle line:84% or as if humans were ants after all? 00:02:47.540 --> 00:02:50.240 align:middle line:84% Who said there were edges, and cliffs, and footing on the moon 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:51.980 align:middle line:84% as if it was the Earth or something? 00:02:51.980 --> 00:02:52.970 align:middle line:90% Who said gravity? 00:02:52.970 --> 00:02:53.780 align:middle line:90% Who said weight? 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:56.510 align:middle line:84% Who said wailing, and crawling, and surfaces? 00:02:56.510 --> 00:02:59.830 align:middle line:90% Damn your surfaces. 00:02:59.830 --> 00:03:03.760 align:middle line:84% The ants, and the humans, and the surfaces 00:03:03.760 --> 00:03:06.820 align:middle line:90% form a dissonant chorus. 00:03:06.820 --> 00:03:08.050 align:middle line:90% They cry. 00:03:08.050 --> 00:03:09.070 align:middle line:90% They wail. 00:03:09.070 --> 00:03:11.350 align:middle line:90% They sing and proceed. 00:03:11.350 --> 00:03:12.550 align:middle line:90% They hit. 00:03:12.550 --> 00:03:13.810 align:middle line:90% They pummel. 00:03:13.810 --> 00:03:15.520 align:middle line:90% They hurt each other. 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:17.200 align:middle line:90% So they say. 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:19.470 align:middle line:90% So they say." 00:03:19.470 --> 00:03:21.000 align:middle line:90%