WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.210 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.210 --> 00:00:02.960 align:middle line:90% How you all doing? 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:04.580 align:middle line:90% You all good? 00:00:04.580 --> 00:00:05.690 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:00:05.690 --> 00:00:08.570 align:middle line:84% I don't know why poets do this, but we always 00:00:08.570 --> 00:00:10.970 align:middle line:90% say, two more poems. 00:00:10.970 --> 00:00:14.125 align:middle line:84% It's never one poem, never three poems, always two more poems. 00:00:14.125 --> 00:00:15.500 align:middle line:84% So I have two more poems to read. 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:16.500 align:middle line:90% That's the good news. 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:19.160 align:middle line:84% The bad news is I write really, really long poems. 00:00:19.160 --> 00:00:26.120 align:middle line:84% So you're not getting out of here anytime soon. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:30.220 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to go back to this book, the new one, 00:00:30.220 --> 00:00:34.323 align:middle line:84% and read the-- oh, something I forgot to mention. 00:00:34.323 --> 00:00:36.490 align:middle line:84% I should have done this before I read contemporary-- 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:40.510 align:middle line:84% or excuse me, on confessionalism. 00:00:40.510 --> 00:00:46.560 align:middle line:84% Bucket is West Coast slang for a hooptie, which 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.980 align:middle line:84% is East Coast slang for a jalopy, which is old school 00:00:49.980 --> 00:00:52.650 align:middle line:90% slang for a broken down car. 00:00:52.650 --> 00:00:55.230 align:middle line:84% So when I say I jumped in the bucket, it wasn't a bucket. 00:00:55.230 --> 00:00:58.410 align:middle line:90% It was a car I jumped into. 00:00:58.410 --> 00:01:01.950 align:middle line:84% I usually say that before, I forgot to. 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:03.912 align:middle line:84% In this poem, "Contemporary American Poetry," 00:01:03.912 --> 00:01:05.370 align:middle line:84% let me see if there's anything that 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:08.420 align:middle line:90% needs explaining beforehand. 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:12.860 align:middle line:90% And no, I don't think there is. 00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:13.700 align:middle line:90% Yeah, there is. 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:17.030 align:middle line:84% Don Sher, who I mentioned was once 00:01:17.030 --> 00:01:21.320 align:middle line:84% the editor of Poetry Magazine, and Ploughshares 00:01:21.320 --> 00:01:25.920 align:middle line:84% is the name of another poetry journal or writing journal. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.338 align:middle line:84% And that's all, I think, you need to know. 00:01:29.338 --> 00:01:30.630 align:middle line:90% "Contemporary American Poetry." 00:01:30.630 --> 00:01:33.440 align:middle line:90% 00:01:33.440 --> 00:01:38.190 align:middle line:84% Another Monday and you're out with some poets. 00:01:38.190 --> 00:01:42.650 align:middle line:84% One of whom, maybe you, has just given a reading. 00:01:42.650 --> 00:01:45.980 align:middle line:84% And it's summer and it's Brooklyn, 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.530 align:middle line:84% or it's the Village and it's winter, 00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:54.560 align:middle line:84% and you've landed at some dusty dive bar crowded around an eight 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.650 align:middle line:84% top to order wings, shots, and whatnot 00:01:57.650 --> 00:02:01.790 align:middle line:84% when halfway down the table you hear one poet congratulate 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:04.640 align:middle line:84% a second on some prize or another, 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.570 align:middle line:84% while a third sulks, sips his Gimlets, and pretends 00:02:08.570 --> 00:02:10.500 align:middle line:90% not to listen. 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:13.500 align:middle line:84% And the fourth mumbles something about not being notified 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:15.480 align:middle line:84% his application was even received, 00:02:15.480 --> 00:02:17.490 align:middle line:84% and how you have to be gay or Black 00:02:17.490 --> 00:02:20.190 align:middle line:84% or both to win anything these days. 00:02:20.190 --> 00:02:23.670 align:middle line:84% And the fifth poet pushes a plate of nachos toward you 00:02:23.670 --> 00:02:26.220 align:middle line:84% and asks what you think about the state 00:02:26.220 --> 00:02:29.430 align:middle line:90% of contemporary American poetry. 00:02:29.430 --> 00:02:32.250 align:middle line:84% And before you can answer, a sixth pries 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:36.780 align:middle line:84% in, mishearing, of course, the last few syllables and waxes 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:40.980 align:middle line:84% cerebral, something about Don Sher or Ploughshares 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:42.930 align:middle line:90% or maybe even timeshares. 00:02:42.930 --> 00:02:45.930 align:middle line:84% And on the television mounted hanging overhead 00:02:45.930 --> 00:02:48.510 align:middle line:84% an anchor woman's mouthing the muted news 00:02:48.510 --> 00:02:55.650 align:middle line:84% of another boy shot dead and Black in some city now burning. 00:02:55.650 --> 00:03:00.390 align:middle line:84% And the police chief promises a thorough investigation. 00:03:00.390 --> 00:03:06.090 align:middle line:84% And a Yemeni woman is burning, splashed with acid for loving 00:03:06.090 --> 00:03:07.290 align:middle line:90% who she chooses. 00:03:07.290 --> 00:03:10.980 align:middle line:84% And everywhere you think is burning, burning. 00:03:10.980 --> 00:03:14.220 align:middle line:84% And yes, you hear a graduate student quip between slurps 00:03:14.220 --> 00:03:16.140 align:middle line:90% about a newly dead master. 00:03:16.140 --> 00:03:18.360 align:middle line:84% I tried to like his work, may he rest in peace, 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:21.030 align:middle line:84% but try as I might, I found him too accessible. 00:03:21.030 --> 00:03:26.190 align:middle line:90% 00:03:26.190 --> 00:03:30.110 align:middle line:84% Another Monday and it's summer in Brooklyn or it's 00:03:30.110 --> 00:03:32.180 align:middle line:90% the Village and winter. 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:34.790 align:middle line:84% You're with the poets, one of whom-- 00:03:34.790 --> 00:03:38.060 align:middle line:84% the political poet, the outsider poet-- 00:03:38.060 --> 00:03:40.988 align:middle line:84% has brought along a selfie stick. 00:03:40.988 --> 00:03:44.390 align:middle line:84% You put your shot glass to your mouth. 00:03:44.390 --> 00:03:48.050 align:middle line:84% What's inside is burning, burning. 00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:51.440 align:middle line:90% Everybody now squeeze in tight. 00:03:51.440 --> 00:03:53.960 align:middle line:90% Everybody now say cheese. 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.720 align:middle line:90% 00:03:57.720 --> 00:03:59.510 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:59.510 --> 00:04:01.000 align:middle line:90%