WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.080 --> 00:00:04.120 align:middle line:84%
My brother said this
poem to me on the phone.

00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:06.580 align:middle line:84%
I was in such a fever dream
writing these little poems,

00:00:06.580 --> 00:00:11.292 align:middle line:84%
and I don't usually do this,
but I fact-checked some of them.

00:00:11.292 --> 00:00:12.250 align:middle line:90%
I don't recommend this.

00:00:12.250 --> 00:00:14.608 align:middle line:84%
Don't do this if
you write poems.

00:00:14.608 --> 00:00:16.400 align:middle line:84%
But I called up my
brother and I said, hey,

00:00:16.400 --> 00:00:17.775 align:middle line:84%
can I run some of
these past you?

00:00:17.775 --> 00:00:18.850 align:middle line:90%
And he said, yeah, sure.

00:00:18.850 --> 00:00:21.100 align:middle line:84%
And then he said this
poem to me on the phone.

00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:22.070 align:middle line:90%
I'm not joking.

00:00:22.070 --> 00:00:25.690 align:middle line:84%
He just said the poem almost
verbatim to me on the phone.

00:00:25.690 --> 00:00:28.250 align:middle line:90%
It's called Ground Guy.

00:00:28.250 --> 00:00:30.530 align:middle line:84%
Renee and I were
doing some limb work,

00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:32.330 align:middle line:84%
Noah says, on the
tree out front,

00:00:32.330 --> 00:00:34.640 align:middle line:84%
that twisty pine at the
corner of the house,

00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:37.550 align:middle line:84%
taking a couple of widows
off it and Dad drives up,

00:00:37.550 --> 00:00:41.150 align:middle line:84%
drunker than I've ever seen him,
or close, in a red Ford Focus,

00:00:41.150 --> 00:00:43.250 align:middle line:84%
gives me the biggest
hug he can considering

00:00:43.250 --> 00:00:45.380 align:middle line:84%
he dropped 20 pounds
since I last saw him,

00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:47.918 align:middle line:84%
and I'm the ground
guy holding the rope.

00:00:47.918 --> 00:00:50.210 align:middle line:84%
Puts his arm around my shoulder
and just kind of stands

00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:52.250 align:middle line:84%
there, neither of
us saying a word,

00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:53.930 align:middle line:84%
not knowing after
two or three minutes,

00:00:53.930 --> 00:00:55.880 align:middle line:84%
he'll get back in the
car and drive off,

00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:57.620 align:middle line:84%
last time I'll ever
see him, because when

00:00:57.620 --> 00:00:58.940 align:middle line:84%
you're the ground
guy, you got to focus

00:00:58.940 --> 00:01:00.050 align:middle line:90%
on the guy in the tree.

00:01:00.050 --> 00:01:03.230 align:middle line:84%
You mess up and that limb swings
out and hits the line, bang,

00:01:03.230 --> 00:01:04.474 align:middle line:90%
the whole block goes dark.

00:01:04.474 --> 00:01:11.350 align:middle line:90%


00:01:11.350 --> 00:01:16.930 align:middle line:84%
Sometimes a poem finds you
through another person's voice.

00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:18.660 align:middle line:90%
It's crazy.

00:01:18.660 --> 00:01:21.000 align:middle line:90%