WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.170 align:middle line:84% This is my last poem for the evening. 00:00:02.170 --> 00:00:04.140 align:middle line:84% But I want to thank the university 00:00:04.140 --> 00:00:05.580 align:middle line:90% for once bringing me out. 00:00:05.580 --> 00:00:09.900 align:middle line:84% And also the university supporting the Poetry Center, 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:13.200 align:middle line:84% which has been around for a very long time because I could 00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:14.910 align:middle line:90% tell from the rug in my room. 00:00:14.910 --> 00:00:16.753 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:16.753 --> 00:00:18.420 align:middle line:84% You have to do something about that rug. 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:21.887 align:middle line:84% I'm over at the guest house, is that what it-- 00:00:21.887 --> 00:00:23.970 align:middle line:84% looks like the fingerprints of hell on the ground. 00:00:23.970 --> 00:00:24.470 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:24.470 --> 00:00:27.809 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:27.809 --> 00:00:28.310 align:middle line:90% 00:00:28.310 --> 00:00:29.900 align:middle line:90% It's a poem called "Oranges." 00:00:29.900 --> 00:00:32.630 align:middle line:84% It's about your first girlfriend. 00:00:32.630 --> 00:00:35.150 align:middle line:84% That experience when you go out and you just 00:00:35.150 --> 00:00:37.280 align:middle line:90% don't have enough money. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:39.162 align:middle line:84% And looking around this room, I say, yeah, 00:00:39.162 --> 00:00:41.120 align:middle line:84% you guys don't have enough money on your dates. 00:00:41.120 --> 00:00:43.055 align:middle line:84% So you're always like a little bit short. 00:00:43.055 --> 00:00:45.790 align:middle line:90% 00:00:45.790 --> 00:00:50.770 align:middle line:84% When I was a young person, candy bars cost a nickel, 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:55.675 align:middle line:84% and Dean [? Taynor ?] remembers when they cost a penny. 00:00:55.675 --> 00:00:57.060 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:57.060 --> 00:00:57.560 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:00:57.560 --> 00:01:00.130 align:middle line:90% 00:01:00.130 --> 00:01:05.019 align:middle line:84% So it-- and so kids are really, really surprised 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:06.820 align:middle line:90% they cost a nickel, really? 00:01:06.820 --> 00:01:09.370 align:middle line:84% And sometimes I'm described somewhere 00:01:09.370 --> 00:01:12.910 align:middle line:84% as one of the younger poets in the Norton Anthology 00:01:12.910 --> 00:01:14.290 align:middle line:90% of Younger Poets. 00:01:14.290 --> 00:01:17.570 align:middle line:84% And kids ask me, well, what do the older ones look like? 00:01:17.570 --> 00:01:18.070 align:middle line:90% And-- 00:01:18.070 --> 00:01:20.417 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:01:20.417 --> 00:01:21.250 align:middle line:90% I'm the younger one. 00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:24.525 align:middle line:90% 00:01:24.525 --> 00:01:26.025 align:middle line:84% I can tell you they look really bad. 00:01:26.025 --> 00:01:30.190 align:middle line:90% 00:01:30.190 --> 00:01:31.300 align:middle line:90% "Oranges." 00:01:31.300 --> 00:01:33.790 align:middle line:84% "The first time I went out with a girl 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:37.060 align:middle line:84% I was 13 years old, cold, and weighted down 00:01:37.060 --> 00:01:39.730 align:middle line:90% with two oranges in my jacket. 00:01:39.730 --> 00:01:41.650 align:middle line:90% It was December. 00:01:41.650 --> 00:01:44.860 align:middle line:90% Frost cracking beneath my steps. 00:01:44.860 --> 00:01:49.000 align:middle line:84% My breath before me, then gone as I walked toward her house. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.020 align:middle line:84% The one whose porch light burned yellow night and day 00:01:53.020 --> 00:01:55.180 align:middle line:90% in any weather. 00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:59.570 align:middle line:84% A dog barked at me until she came out pulling at her gloves, 00:01:59.570 --> 00:02:01.690 align:middle line:90% face bright with makeup. 00:02:01.690 --> 00:02:06.580 align:middle line:84% I smiled, touched her shoulder, and led her down the street, 00:02:06.580 --> 00:02:10.570 align:middle line:84% across a used car lot and a line of newly planted trees 00:02:10.570 --> 00:02:14.320 align:middle line:84% until we were breathing before a drugstore. 00:02:14.320 --> 00:02:18.000 align:middle line:84% We entered the drugstore, the tiny bell bringing a sales lady 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:20.370 align:middle line:90% down a narrow line of goods. 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:23.430 align:middle line:84% I turned to the candies, tiered like bleachers, 00:02:23.430 --> 00:02:25.410 align:middle line:90% and asked what she wanted. 00:02:25.410 --> 00:02:27.450 align:middle line:90% Light in her eyes. 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:31.860 align:middle line:84% A smile starting at the corners of her mouth. 00:02:31.860 --> 00:02:34.260 align:middle line:84% I fingered a nickel in my pocket, 00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:36.270 align:middle line:84% and when she lifted a chocolate candy 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:41.170 align:middle line:84% bar that cost a dime, heck no, I didn't say anything. 00:02:41.170 --> 00:02:44.460 align:middle line:84% I took the nickel from my pocket, then the orange, 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:48.270 align:middle line:84% and sat them both quietly on the counter. 00:02:48.270 --> 00:02:51.120 align:middle line:84% When I looked up, the sales lady's eyes 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.630 align:middle line:84% met mine and held them, knowing very well what 00:02:54.630 --> 00:02:57.870 align:middle line:90% it was all about, love, I mean. 00:02:57.870 --> 00:03:01.890 align:middle line:84% Outside the drugstore, a few cars hissing past, 00:03:01.890 --> 00:03:06.480 align:middle line:84% fog hanging like old coach between the trees. 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:09.180 align:middle line:84% I took my girl's hand in mine for two blocks, 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:12.510 align:middle line:84% then released it to let her unwrap the chocolate. 00:03:12.510 --> 00:03:16.060 align:middle line:84% I peeled my orange that was so bright against the gray 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:20.070 align:middle line:84% of December that from some distance someone 00:03:20.070 --> 00:03:26.370 align:middle line:84% might have thought I was making a fire in my hands." 00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:27.660 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:03:27.660 --> 00:03:28.260 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:03:28.260 --> 00:03:31.610 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:53.169 align:middle line:90%