WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.190 align:middle line:90%


00:00:05.190 --> 00:00:12.150 align:middle line:84%
A poem about snow which
you don't have here.

00:00:12.150 --> 00:00:17.880 align:middle line:84%
But where I come from
we got lots of it.

00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:24.570 align:middle line:84%
In fact, our snow becomes a
political thing where I live.

00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:29.790 align:middle line:84%
You may have heard of
our mayor, Jane Byrne.

00:00:29.790 --> 00:00:33.180 align:middle line:84%
She gets a lot of publicity
because she's the only woman

00:00:33.180 --> 00:00:35.430 align:middle line:90%
mayor of a large city.

00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:38.790 align:middle line:84%
And the main reason
she was elected

00:00:38.790 --> 00:00:41.460 align:middle line:84%
is because the previous
mayor did such a poor--

00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:44.280 align:middle line:84%
such a poor job with
snow removal the year

00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:46.155 align:middle line:90%
that we had the 27 inch snow.

00:00:46.155 --> 00:00:48.780 align:middle line:90%


00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:51.930 align:middle line:84%
People couldn't get their
cars through the streets

00:00:51.930 --> 00:00:53.310 align:middle line:90%
where they were--

00:00:53.310 --> 00:00:58.680 align:middle line:84%
the park cars were
enclosed in igloos.

00:00:58.680 --> 00:01:02.940 align:middle line:84%
That didn't go over very
well with the Chicagoans.

00:01:02.940 --> 00:01:06.630 align:middle line:84%
This poem is called
Not Only the Eskimos.

00:01:06.630 --> 00:01:12.960 align:middle line:84%
Eskimos are said to
have 26, some people

00:01:12.960 --> 00:01:16.185 align:middle line:90%
say more words, for snow.

00:01:16.185 --> 00:01:21.400 align:middle line:90%


00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:26.480 align:middle line:84%
We have only one noun but
as many different kinds.

00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:33.400 align:middle line:84%
The grainy snow of the Puritans
and snow of soft fat flakes.

00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.850 align:middle line:84%
Guerrilla snow which
comes in the night

00:01:36.850 --> 00:01:40.150 align:middle line:84%
and changes the
world by morning.

00:01:40.150 --> 00:01:43.930 align:middle line:84%
Rabbinical snow, a
permanent skullcap

00:01:43.930 --> 00:01:46.720 align:middle line:90%
on the highest mountains.

00:01:46.720 --> 00:01:51.070 align:middle line:84%
Snow that blows in like the Lone
Ranger, riding hard from out

00:01:51.070 --> 00:01:52.930 align:middle line:90%
of the West.

00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:56.500 align:middle line:84%
Surreal snow in
the Dakotas, where

00:01:56.500 --> 00:02:00.670 align:middle line:84%
you can't find your house,
your street, though you are not

00:02:00.670 --> 00:02:04.810 align:middle line:84%
in a dream or a
science fiction movie.

00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:10.270 align:middle line:84%
Snow that tastes good to the sun
when it licks black tree limbs,

00:02:10.270 --> 00:02:13.450 align:middle line:84%
leaving us only
one white stripe.

00:02:13.450 --> 00:02:17.200 align:middle line:90%
A replica of a skunk.

00:02:17.200 --> 00:02:20.170 align:middle line:84%
Unbelievable snows,
the blizzard that

00:02:20.170 --> 00:02:22.420 align:middle line:90%
strikes on the tenth of April.

00:02:22.420 --> 00:02:25.420 align:middle line:84%
The false snow
before Indian summer.

00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:28.060 align:middle line:84%
The big snow on
Mozart's birthday

00:02:28.060 --> 00:02:32.530 align:middle line:84%
when Chicago became the
Elysian Fields and strangers

00:02:32.530 --> 00:02:35.530 align:middle line:90%
spoke to each other.

00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:41.950 align:middle line:84%
Paper snow, cut and taped to the
inside of grade school windows.

00:02:41.950 --> 00:02:46.510 align:middle line:84%
In an old tale, the snow that
covers a nest of strawberries.

00:02:46.510 --> 00:02:51.040 align:middle line:90%
Small hearts, ripe and sweet.

00:02:51.040 --> 00:02:54.130 align:middle line:84%
The special snow that
goes with Christmas

00:02:54.130 --> 00:02:57.190 align:middle line:90%
whether it falls or not.

00:02:57.190 --> 00:03:00.190 align:middle line:84%
The Russian snow
we remember along

00:03:00.190 --> 00:03:02.860 align:middle line:84%
with the warmth and
smell of our furs

00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:08.170 align:middle line:84%
though we have never traveled
to Russia or worn furs.

00:03:08.170 --> 00:03:12.370 align:middle line:84%
The young snows of
yesteryear, lost with ladies,

00:03:12.370 --> 00:03:14.590 align:middle line:90%
gone out like matches.

00:03:14.590 --> 00:03:17.590 align:middle line:90%
The snow in Joyce's "The Dead."

00:03:17.590 --> 00:03:20.320 align:middle line:84%
The silent secret
snow in a story

00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:25.390 align:middle line:84%
by Conrad Aiken, which
is a snow of first love.

00:03:25.390 --> 00:03:31.780 align:middle line:84%
The snowfall between the child
and the space woman on TV.

00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:35.200 align:middle line:90%
Snow as idea of whiteness.

00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:41.080 align:middle line:84%
As in snow drop, snow
goose, snowball bush.

00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:45.310 align:middle line:84%
The snow that puts stars
in your hair and your hair

00:03:45.310 --> 00:03:48.190 align:middle line:90%
which has turned to snow.

00:03:48.190 --> 00:03:53.470 align:middle line:84%
The snow Elinor Wylie
walked in in "Velvet Shoes."

00:03:53.470 --> 00:03:59.320 align:middle line:84%
The snow before her
footprints and the snow after.

00:03:59.320 --> 00:04:02.320 align:middle line:84%
The snow in the
back of our heads,

00:04:02.320 --> 00:04:07.030 align:middle line:84%
whiter than white, which has
to do with childhood again

00:04:07.030 --> 00:04:08.910 align:middle line:90%
each year.

00:04:08.910 --> 00:04:14.000 align:middle line:90%