WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.542 align:middle line:84% You know it's going to be a good reading when you get heckled 00:00:02.542 --> 00:00:03.860 align:middle line:90% in the intro, you know. 00:00:03.860 --> 00:00:04.670 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:04.670 --> 00:00:05.503 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Gabe. 00:00:05.503 --> 00:00:06.170 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Gabe. 00:00:06.170 --> 00:00:07.220 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Tyler. 00:00:07.220 --> 00:00:08.180 align:middle line:90% Thank you, Paola. 00:00:08.180 --> 00:00:11.510 align:middle line:84% Thank you, Aria and the rest of the folks at the poet-- 00:00:11.510 --> 00:00:12.380 align:middle line:90% I mean, it's magic. 00:00:12.380 --> 00:00:13.838 align:middle line:84% Right, it's really, really special. 00:00:13.838 --> 00:00:15.710 align:middle line:90% It's my first time here. 00:00:15.710 --> 00:00:17.270 align:middle line:90% It took me a while to get here. 00:00:17.270 --> 00:00:20.450 align:middle line:84% But I'm happy to be here at long last. 00:00:20.450 --> 00:00:21.860 align:middle line:90% What a gift, you know. 00:00:21.860 --> 00:00:26.120 align:middle line:84% I've never seen my face so big on a projector. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:27.911 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:27.911 --> 00:00:29.700 align:middle line:90% 00:00:29.700 --> 00:00:31.640 align:middle line:84% I'm going to-- I'm going to read some poems. 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:32.857 align:middle line:90% I'm going to read some poems. 00:00:32.857 --> 00:00:34.940 align:middle line:84% I'm going to start with some poems from this book. 00:00:34.940 --> 00:00:36.000 align:middle line:90% This is my first book. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:38.190 align:middle line:90% It's called "Tap Out." 00:00:38.190 --> 00:00:43.730 align:middle line:84% And I'll start with the first poem in the book. 00:00:43.730 --> 00:00:45.220 align:middle line:84% It's called "After the Hurricane." 00:00:45.220 --> 00:00:47.800 align:middle line:84% It was a much-- it's important to have people in your life 00:00:47.800 --> 00:00:51.640 align:middle line:90% who call you on your bullshit. 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:55.630 align:middle line:84% And-- and I had a teacher at the time, in my MFA program, 00:00:55.630 --> 00:00:56.740 align:middle line:90% you know, that-- 00:00:56.740 --> 00:00:58.270 align:middle line:90% his name is Mark Jarman. 00:00:58.270 --> 00:01:00.867 align:middle line:84% And I wrote this really long poem that I was so proud of. 00:01:00.867 --> 00:01:02.950 align:middle line:84% I thought this is the best poem I've ever written. 00:01:02.950 --> 00:01:06.160 align:middle line:84% And he said, well, the middle part is good. 00:01:06.160 --> 00:01:07.300 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:07.300 --> 00:01:10.540 align:middle line:84% And so, all I did is, I cut off the beginning and the end. 00:01:10.540 --> 00:01:14.230 align:middle line:84% And then, now it's the-- it's the first poem in this book. 00:01:14.230 --> 00:01:16.100 align:middle line:84% So the title doesn't make any sense anymore. 00:01:16.100 --> 00:01:17.808 align:middle line:84% But I didn't have the heart to change it. 00:01:17.808 --> 00:01:22.760 align:middle line:84% You know, and so, it's called "After the Hurricane." 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:26.990 align:middle line:84% 300 miles North, my father beds down in a van 00:01:26.990 --> 00:01:29.140 align:middle line:90% by the Connecticut River. 00:01:29.140 --> 00:01:32.740 align:middle line:84% Snow tires rim deep in the silt. He 00:01:32.740 --> 00:01:36.790 align:middle line:84% has a wool horse blanket tacked inside the windshield, 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:40.690 align:middle line:84% a pair of extra pants bunched into a pillow. 00:01:40.690 --> 00:01:45.310 align:middle line:84% He has a paper bag of partially smoked butts, a Paw Sox 00:01:45.310 --> 00:01:47.940 align:middle line:90% cap, a Zippo. 00:01:47.940 --> 00:01:50.640 align:middle line:84% He has state sponsored cell phone minutes 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:55.040 align:middle line:84% and a camo jacket hung on the side view to dry. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.520 align:middle line:84% He can see the Costco parking lot through the trees, 00:01:58.520 --> 00:02:01.710 align:middle line:90% swelling and emptying out. 00:02:01.710 --> 00:02:04.510 align:middle line:84% He wants to fix things with his wife. 00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:06.330 align:middle line:90% He wants a couch to crash on. 00:02:06.330 --> 00:02:07.380 align:middle line:90% He wants a drink. 00:02:07.380 --> 00:02:08.970 align:middle line:90% He wants sex. 00:02:08.970 --> 00:02:11.760 align:middle line:84% He has a few cans of kidney beans 00:02:11.760 --> 00:02:14.250 align:middle line:90% and a tin of ShopRite tuna. 00:02:14.250 --> 00:02:17.670 align:middle line:84% Wrinkled plastic piss bottles line the dash. 00:02:17.670 --> 00:02:20.160 align:middle line:84% Sometimes he walks out to the river 00:02:20.160 --> 00:02:25.030 align:middle line:84% and lets the wind sift his lank and matted hair. 00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:29.320 align:middle line:84% Sometimes he peels his socks and stands in the murky current 00:02:29.320 --> 00:02:33.100 align:middle line:84% and thinks about his wife, her one toe 00:02:33.100 --> 00:02:37.840 align:middle line:84% longer than the others, her freckled hands. 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.080 align:middle line:84% He tries to hold her hands in his mind. 00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:44.440 align:middle line:84% He tries to remember the birth years of his sons. 00:02:44.440 --> 00:02:46.360 align:middle line:84% He tries to make sense of the papers 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:49.660 align:middle line:84% he signed, the icy water wetting the hem 00:02:49.660 --> 00:02:55.370 align:middle line:84% of his pants, the river stones sharp underfoot, the wind. 00:02:55.370 --> 00:03:00.460 align:middle line:84% I hold him like this in my mind all afternoon. 00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:04.000 align:middle line:90%