WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.970 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:09.630 align:middle line:84% Our next reading will be Wednesday night, the Modern 00:00:09.630 --> 00:00:15.278 align:middle line:84% Language auditorium, visiting poet Linda Pastan. 00:00:15.278 --> 00:00:17.070 align:middle line:84% I can't believe I came over here and forgot 00:00:17.070 --> 00:00:18.390 align:middle line:90% to bring a stack of brochures. 00:00:18.390 --> 00:00:20.190 align:middle line:84% But I'm sure that you all have them anyway. 00:00:20.190 --> 00:00:22.710 align:middle line:90% 00:00:22.710 --> 00:00:26.130 align:middle line:84% It's a pleasure to welcome Paul Zimmer back to our campus. 00:00:26.130 --> 00:00:30.060 align:middle line:84% He was here in February of 1971, certainly time 00:00:30.060 --> 00:00:32.580 align:middle line:90% to have him back. 00:00:32.580 --> 00:00:36.510 align:middle line:84% His books of poetry are the Ribs of Death, 00:00:36.510 --> 00:00:42.180 align:middle line:84% the Republic of Many Voices, the Zimmer Poems, With Wanda: 00:00:42.180 --> 00:00:46.440 align:middle line:84% Town and Country Poems, A Seed on the Wind, 00:00:46.440 --> 00:00:51.690 align:middle line:84% and most recently, The Ancient Wars. 00:00:51.690 --> 00:00:53.220 align:middle line:84% His selected and new poems called 00:00:53.220 --> 00:00:55.590 align:middle line:84% Family Poems will be released from the University 00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:59.190 align:middle line:90% of Pittsburgh this year. 00:00:59.190 --> 00:01:04.050 align:middle line:84% He's currently the director of the University of Georgia Press 00:01:04.050 --> 00:01:05.760 align:middle line:90% in Athens, Georgia. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:07.680 align:middle line:84% It's a great pleasure to welcome Paul Zimmer. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:10.130 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:01:10.130 --> 00:01:18.440 align:middle line:90% 00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:20.150 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:01:20.150 --> 00:01:23.390 align:middle line:84% I figure that it was 12 years ago. 00:01:23.390 --> 00:01:25.400 align:middle line:84% And the place still looks very much the same, 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:27.220 align:middle line:84% and 12 years from now when I come again, 00:01:27.220 --> 00:01:28.220 align:middle line:90% they can give me tenure. 00:01:28.220 --> 00:01:31.980 align:middle line:90% 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:35.310 align:middle line:84% I thank you very much for coming on in a late afternoon. 00:01:35.310 --> 00:01:39.440 align:middle line:84% It's very, very nice of you to do that. 00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:44.990 align:middle line:84% I want to begin with a poem about when I was a young man. 00:01:44.990 --> 00:01:47.450 align:middle line:90% Can you all hear me? 00:01:47.450 --> 00:01:55.520 align:middle line:84% When I was a young man, it was a curious time in America, 00:01:55.520 --> 00:01:57.710 align:middle line:84% maybe in some ways similar to the time 00:01:57.710 --> 00:02:00.170 align:middle line:90% we're going through now. 00:02:00.170 --> 00:02:03.410 align:middle line:84% Many people call them the Eisenhower years. 00:02:03.410 --> 00:02:09.345 align:middle line:84% And it was a kind of era of not much 00:02:09.345 --> 00:02:10.470 align:middle line:90% was happening in the world. 00:02:10.470 --> 00:02:14.570 align:middle line:84% It was a difficult time, I think, to be a young man. 00:02:14.570 --> 00:02:18.410 align:middle line:84% I had a difficult time being a young person as it was. 00:02:18.410 --> 00:02:28.190 align:middle line:84% And then to exist in that vacuum, 00:02:28.190 --> 00:02:31.490 align:middle line:84% some days I didn't even know my own name, I don't think. 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:38.540 align:middle line:84% I had a difficult time in school and this poem reflects that. 00:02:38.540 --> 00:02:41.870 align:middle line:90% 00:02:41.870 --> 00:02:46.580 align:middle line:84% And it's also about some years that I worked for my father. 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:48.890 align:middle line:84% A year that I spent working for my father, which 00:02:48.890 --> 00:02:51.560 align:middle line:84% was one of the worst years of my life also. 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.825 align:middle line:84% So the poem was called the "Eisenhower years." 00:02:53.825 --> 00:02:56.390 align:middle line:90% 00:02:56.390 --> 00:03:01.340 align:middle line:84% Flunked out and laid off, Zimmer works for his father 00:03:01.340 --> 00:03:04.340 align:middle line:90% at Zimmer Shoes for Women. 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:08.090 align:middle line:84% The feet of old women awaken from dreams. 00:03:08.090 --> 00:03:12.620 align:middle line:84% They groan and rub their hacked up corns together. 00:03:12.620 --> 00:03:17.300 align:middle line:84% At last they stand and walk in agony downtown to Zimmer's 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:21.380 align:middle line:84% fitting stool, where he talks to the feet, 00:03:21.380 --> 00:03:27.260 align:middle line:84% reassures them with blissful ties in medium heels. 00:03:27.260 --> 00:03:29.750 align:middle line:84% Home from work, he checks the mail for greetings 00:03:29.750 --> 00:03:32.060 align:middle line:90% from his draft board. 00:03:32.060 --> 00:03:35.390 align:middle line:84% After supper, he listens to Brubeck, 00:03:35.390 --> 00:03:39.260 align:middle line:84% lays out with a tumbler of Thunderbird, cigarettes, 00:03:39.260 --> 00:03:42.140 align:middle line:90% and From Here to Eternity. 00:03:42.140 --> 00:03:45.620 align:middle line:84% That evening, he goes out to the bars, 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:49.010 align:middle line:84% drinks three pitchers of straws, ends 00:03:49.010 --> 00:03:52.520 align:middle line:84% up in the wee hours leaning on a lamppost. 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.640 align:middle line:84% His tie loosened, fedora pushed back 00:03:55.640 --> 00:04:00.620 align:middle line:84% on his head, a Chesterfield stuck to his lips. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:04.700 align:middle line:84% All of complacent America spreads around him 00:04:04.700 --> 00:04:06.800 align:middle line:90% in the night. 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:10.100 align:middle line:90% Nothing is moving in this void. 00:04:10.100 --> 00:04:14.030 align:middle line:84% Only the feet of old women twitching and shuffling 00:04:14.030 --> 00:04:16.010 align:middle line:90% in pain. 00:04:16.010 --> 00:04:21.890 align:middle line:84% Zimmer sighs and takes a drag, exhales through his nostrils. 00:04:21.890 --> 00:04:25.700 align:middle line:84% He knows nothing and feels little. 00:04:25.700 --> 00:04:30.200 align:middle line:84% He has never been anywhere and fears where he is growing. 00:04:30.200 --> 00:04:37.200 align:middle line:90% 00:04:37.200 --> 00:04:42.990 align:middle line:84% This is a kind of another poem about that time. 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:45.340 align:middle line:90% Also, it's a crazy poem. 00:04:45.340 --> 00:04:48.900 align:middle line:84% It's called "The Curse of the Frogs." 00:04:48.900 --> 00:04:52.260 align:middle line:90% "The Curse of the Frogs." 00:04:52.260 --> 00:04:56.610 align:middle line:84% Once in Louisville, on pass from basic training, 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.150 align:middle line:84% Zimmer drank so much beer he got hiccups. 00:05:00.150 --> 00:05:03.510 align:middle line:84% He spilled on until he could not speak, could not 00:05:03.510 --> 00:05:07.080 align:middle line:84% remember name, rank, or serial number, 00:05:07.080 --> 00:05:11.080 align:middle line:84% and staggered from his stool out to the night to somewhere, 00:05:11.080 --> 00:05:14.820 align:middle line:90% find a room, and fall to bed. 00:05:14.820 --> 00:05:18.330 align:middle line:84% All night his bladder stretched and ached. 00:05:18.330 --> 00:05:22.680 align:middle line:84% He dreamed of those frogs they used to catch beside the creek. 00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:25.890 align:middle line:84% How Barney would turn them over to spread their legs apart, 00:05:25.890 --> 00:05:28.380 align:middle line:84% and slip a reed up through the anus, 00:05:28.380 --> 00:05:31.200 align:middle line:84% and then slowly blow the creatures up like green 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:35.370 align:middle line:84% balloons to bob and turn upon the foam. 00:05:35.370 --> 00:05:39.240 align:middle line:84% All night, Zimmer watched them float in agony. 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:43.680 align:middle line:84% Their small eyes bulging with shock and revenge. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:47.970 align:middle line:84% Only their mouths moved slightly. 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:51.390 align:middle line:84% If he could now, Zimmer would swagger into the palms 00:05:51.390 --> 00:05:54.750 align:middle line:84% again to drink straw, draft with his buddies, 00:05:54.750 --> 00:05:58.320 align:middle line:84% sharing all the flat footed artless talk, 00:05:58.320 --> 00:06:01.770 align:middle line:84% the smoky drift of their potentiality, 00:06:01.770 --> 00:06:06.720 align:middle line:84% round after round when anything seemed possible. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.440 align:middle line:84% But then he remembers the night Barney and Gus lurched out 00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:15.750 align:middle line:84% to the pickup and roared off for Wanda's, in smoke and cinders, 00:06:15.750 --> 00:06:19.920 align:middle line:84% forgetting the curve just past the Ohio station. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:24.060 align:middle line:84% Gus went through the windshield and broke against an Elm stump. 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:28.920 align:middle line:84% Barney was crushed between the steering post and truck bed. 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.755 align:middle line:84% The very next month, Zimmer was drafted. 00:06:31.755 --> 00:06:35.610 align:middle line:90% 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:42.270 align:middle line:84% Well, that introduces a character named Wanda, 00:06:42.270 --> 00:06:44.490 align:middle line:90% that I made up. 00:06:44.490 --> 00:06:47.010 align:middle line:90% And I made a book about her. 00:06:47.010 --> 00:06:52.300 align:middle line:84% She represents every woman for me, 00:06:52.300 --> 00:06:56.010 align:middle line:84% I guess she is based on all the women that I've known, 00:06:56.010 --> 00:06:58.710 align:middle line:84% and some of the women that I'd wish that I'd known. 00:06:58.710 --> 00:07:03.330 align:middle line:90% 00:07:03.330 --> 00:07:06.600 align:middle line:84% In this book, is called With Wanda: Town and Country Poems. 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:09.160 align:middle line:90% And it's divided into two parts. 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.840 align:middle line:84% In the first part, they're rural poems. 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:15.750 align:middle line:84% And they're usually spoken by men about Wanda. 00:07:15.750 --> 00:07:19.860 align:middle line:84% And the second part is urban poems. 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:25.760 align:middle line:84% And the poems have city imagery in them. 00:07:25.760 --> 00:07:30.300 align:middle line:84% I thought I would read a few of the Wanda poems to you. 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:34.690 align:middle line:84% This one is called "Wanda Being Beautiful." 00:07:34.690 --> 00:07:37.110 align:middle line:84% I've never been physically beautiful. 00:07:37.110 --> 00:07:39.165 align:middle line:84% And I've often wondered what it would be like. 00:07:39.165 --> 00:07:41.980 align:middle line:90% 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:45.090 align:middle line:84% It must be a real problem, certainly a problem 00:07:45.090 --> 00:07:45.720 align:middle line:90% I've never had. 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:50.070 align:middle line:90% 00:07:50.070 --> 00:07:53.580 align:middle line:84% Well, the poem is called "Wanda Being Beautiful." 00:07:53.580 --> 00:07:56.100 align:middle line:90% 00:07:56.100 --> 00:07:58.560 align:middle line:84% To be beautiful is to somehow keep 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:02.310 align:middle line:84% a dozen fires burning at night, to know 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:07.770 align:middle line:84% that all eyes shining out of the trees are afraid of you. 00:08:07.770 --> 00:08:11.520 align:middle line:84% It is to know that every crackle of a twig, every footfall 00:08:11.520 --> 00:08:13.140 align:middle line:90% is a threat. 00:08:13.140 --> 00:08:17.100 align:middle line:84% The desire is greatest from a distance. 00:08:17.100 --> 00:08:21.060 align:middle line:84% To be beautiful is to stay on the move through every season, 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:25.020 align:middle line:84% to watch sharply as you take what you want. 00:08:25.020 --> 00:08:30.420 align:middle line:84% But mostly it is knowing how to choose dry wood, how to bank 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.265 align:middle line:90% your fires against cold. 00:08:32.265 --> 00:08:35.970 align:middle line:90% 00:08:35.970 --> 00:08:43.980 align:middle line:84% This is a poem about a guy named Rollo that I made up. 00:08:43.980 --> 00:08:47.100 align:middle line:90% And it's a Wanda poem also. 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:52.140 align:middle line:84% Rollo's poems always take place around water. 00:08:52.140 --> 00:08:55.320 align:middle line:84% And he has water imagery, frequently, 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:59.040 align:middle line:90% almost always in his poems. 00:08:59.040 --> 00:09:00.630 align:middle line:90% It's called "Rollo's Miracle." 00:09:00.630 --> 00:09:05.790 align:middle line:90% 00:09:05.790 --> 00:09:10.710 align:middle line:84% I'm going to affect my country accent which 00:09:10.710 --> 00:09:18.240 align:middle line:84% is Western Pennsylvania, cum Ohio, cum California, cum 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.640 align:middle line:90% Georgia. 00:09:20.640 --> 00:09:23.940 align:middle line:84% But it's my country accent, folks. 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:28.470 align:middle line:84% This is called "Rollo's Miracle." 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:32.490 align:middle line:84% Rollo says, I can bring down rain. 00:09:32.490 --> 00:09:36.810 align:middle line:84% And we say bull crap and slug him on his bicep. 00:09:36.810 --> 00:09:41.040 align:middle line:84% But he says, underwear ain't fit to wear. 00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:43.410 align:middle line:84% And lightning cracks its knuckles. 00:09:43.410 --> 00:09:45.870 align:middle line:90% Thunder pulls the plug out. 00:09:45.870 --> 00:09:50.400 align:middle line:84% Fish could swim in what comes down. 00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:54.510 align:middle line:84% When it lets up we say to Rollo, aw bullcrap, buddy. 00:09:54.510 --> 00:09:56.740 align:middle line:90% You got lucky. 00:09:56.740 --> 00:10:00.450 align:middle line:84% But Wanda is giving Rollo the eye. 00:10:00.450 --> 00:10:04.110 align:middle line:84% Underwear ain't fit to wear, he chants again. 00:10:04.110 --> 00:10:05.760 align:middle line:90% And the clouds uncork. 00:10:05.760 --> 00:10:08.610 align:middle line:90% The river starts to rise. 00:10:08.610 --> 00:10:11.160 align:middle line:90% Wanda takes Rollo by the arm. 00:10:11.160 --> 00:10:14.250 align:middle line:84% And they go off to meet the rainbow. 00:10:14.250 --> 00:10:19.930 align:middle line:84% And we stand there with the cold rain, sighing in our socks. 00:10:19.930 --> 00:10:24.270 align:middle line:84% Cecil says, underwear ain't fit to wear. 00:10:24.270 --> 00:10:28.050 align:middle line:84% Underwear ain't fit to wear, shouts Zimmer. 00:10:28.050 --> 00:10:33.180 align:middle line:84% Lester whispers, underwear ain't fit to wear. 00:10:33.180 --> 00:10:38.175 align:middle line:84% But that sun shines on and on, bright as a fresh dropped egg. 00:10:38.175 --> 00:10:50.290 align:middle line:90% 00:10:50.290 --> 00:10:51.370 align:middle line:90% I love jazz. 00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:57.280 align:middle line:84% And I resisted making jazz poems, 00:10:57.280 --> 00:10:59.740 align:middle line:84% because I don't really like poems about other art forms. 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:01.300 align:middle line:84% I don't like poems about paintings. 00:11:01.300 --> 00:11:04.840 align:middle line:84% I don't like poems about music, really. 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:07.960 align:middle line:84% But I've always felt very poetic when I've listened to jazz. 00:11:07.960 --> 00:11:12.460 align:middle line:84% So I waited many years to make a jazz poem. 00:11:12.460 --> 00:11:15.070 align:middle line:90% And I made it right. 00:11:15.070 --> 00:11:19.090 align:middle line:84% And this one is called the-- it's a Wanda poem also. 00:11:19.090 --> 00:11:20.515 align:middle line:90% It's called "Zimmer's Last Gig." 00:11:20.515 --> 00:11:24.100 align:middle line:90% 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:26.980 align:middle line:84% Listening to hard bop, I stayed up all night 00:11:26.980 --> 00:11:29.080 align:middle line:90% just like good times. 00:11:29.080 --> 00:11:31.780 align:middle line:84% I broke the old waxes after I'd played them. 00:11:31.780 --> 00:11:35.470 align:middle line:84% Out of nowhere Mohawk, Star Eyes, Salt Peanuts, 00:11:35.470 --> 00:11:41.560 align:middle line:84% Confirmation, one by one, Bird being Bud, Brut, Prez. 00:11:41.560 --> 00:11:47.170 align:middle line:84% All dead, all dead anyway, as clay around my feet 00:11:47.170 --> 00:11:51.220 align:middle line:84% Years ago, I wanted to take Wanda to Birdland, certain 00:11:51.220 --> 00:11:53.590 align:middle line:84% that the music would make her desire me. 00:11:53.590 --> 00:11:55.690 align:middle line:84% Then after a few sets she would give 00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:58.210 align:middle line:90% in to rhythm and sophistication. 00:11:58.210 --> 00:12:01.570 align:middle line:84% And then we could slip off into the wee hours with gin, 00:12:01.570 --> 00:12:05.890 align:middle line:84% chase, and maryjane, check into a downtown pad 00:12:05.890 --> 00:12:09.640 align:middle line:84% and do some fancy jitterbugging between the lilywhites. 00:12:09.640 --> 00:12:12.670 align:middle line:90% But Wanda was no quail. 00:12:12.670 --> 00:12:16.030 align:middle line:84% Bud could have passed out over the keys. 00:12:16.030 --> 00:12:19.180 align:middle line:84% Bird could have shot up right on stage. 00:12:19.180 --> 00:12:22.030 align:middle line:84% Wanda would have missed the legends. 00:12:22.030 --> 00:12:27.010 align:middle line:84% The band could have riffed all night right by her ear. 00:12:27.010 --> 00:12:28.525 align:middle line:90% She never would have bounced. 00:12:28.525 --> 00:12:34.750 align:middle line:90% 00:12:34.750 --> 00:12:36.520 align:middle line:84% I'll read a couple more Wanda poems. 00:12:36.520 --> 00:12:39.880 align:middle line:84% This one is by a guy named Gus that I made up. 00:12:39.880 --> 00:12:42.460 align:middle line:90% And he's an urban man. 00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:44.950 align:middle line:84% And I used to live in Pittsburgh. 00:12:44.950 --> 00:12:47.270 align:middle line:90% I lived there for many years. 00:12:47.270 --> 00:12:50.560 align:middle line:84% And so you recognize some Pittsburgh imagery in the poem 00:12:50.560 --> 00:12:51.850 align:middle line:90% too. 00:12:51.850 --> 00:12:52.810 align:middle line:90% "Gus in the Streets." 00:12:52.810 --> 00:12:56.080 align:middle line:90% 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.880 align:middle line:84% On hot nights, the whole city shares industry. 00:13:00.880 --> 00:13:04.390 align:middle line:84% The air tastes of tarnished coins, 00:13:04.390 --> 00:13:06.760 align:middle line:84% cinders sparkle through the lamplight 00:13:06.760 --> 00:13:10.060 align:middle line:84% and settle in the cups of my molars. 00:13:10.060 --> 00:13:13.930 align:middle line:84% Even the television grits behind my eyes. 00:13:13.930 --> 00:13:17.380 align:middle line:84% So I walk out into the smutty streets, 00:13:17.380 --> 00:13:20.710 align:middle line:84% past alleys of old bones, and glass, 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:26.710 align:middle line:84% past the marquees of skin shows, into the neighborhood of rooms. 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:31.060 align:middle line:84% Here where air bites hardest into my flesh, 00:13:31.060 --> 00:13:35.920 align:middle line:84% I imagine that Wanda calls me from a doorway, her eyes 00:13:35.920 --> 00:13:39.240 align:middle line:90% smoldering with consent. 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:43.060 align:middle line:84% And later, upstairs with an old whore, 00:13:43.060 --> 00:13:46.390 align:middle line:84% and tasting ashes again, I wonder 00:13:46.390 --> 00:13:49.960 align:middle line:90% why Wanda never kept promises. 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:53.500 align:middle line:84% Why her face, so full of cozy signals, 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:57.685 align:middle line:84% had never really intended all the things I thought it meant. 00:13:57.685 --> 00:14:01.048 align:middle line:90% 00:14:01.048 --> 00:14:01.840 align:middle line:90% I'll read one more. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:05.110 align:middle line:90% 00:14:05.110 --> 00:14:07.030 align:middle line:90% I should explain this one. 00:14:07.030 --> 00:14:08.680 align:middle line:90% And I usually read this one-- 00:14:08.680 --> 00:14:11.860 align:middle line:84% Arizona is a community of scholars. 00:14:11.860 --> 00:14:15.670 align:middle line:84% And so I always like to read this, this one 00:14:15.670 --> 00:14:17.335 align:middle line:84% especially because it's not my poem. 00:14:17.335 --> 00:14:21.070 align:middle line:90% 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:23.770 align:middle line:84% A number of years ago, well, not so long, 00:14:23.770 --> 00:14:25.250 align:middle line:90% about four or five years ago. 00:14:25.250 --> 00:14:27.550 align:middle line:90% I was in London. 00:14:27.550 --> 00:14:31.510 align:middle line:84% And I was shopping at some of the old bookstores on Charing 00:14:31.510 --> 00:14:32.590 align:middle line:90% Cross Road. 00:14:32.590 --> 00:14:35.170 align:middle line:84% And I was in the basement of this one dusty old 00:14:35.170 --> 00:14:38.080 align:middle line:84% venerable place and poking around. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:44.710 align:middle line:84% And suddenly, it was very dim there, a man came up beside me. 00:14:44.710 --> 00:14:46.060 align:middle line:90% Gray haired man with a beard. 00:14:46.060 --> 00:14:48.460 align:middle line:84% And he's-- put something in my hand. 00:14:48.460 --> 00:14:52.210 align:middle line:90% And he said, I should buy this. 00:14:52.210 --> 00:14:55.900 align:middle line:84% And so I looked at it, and it was an ornately carved 00:14:55.900 --> 00:14:57.790 align:middle line:90% wooden box. 00:14:57.790 --> 00:15:00.437 align:middle line:90% I looked around for him again. 00:15:00.437 --> 00:15:01.270 align:middle line:90% I couldn't find him. 00:15:01.270 --> 00:15:05.710 align:middle line:84% So I went upstairs, saw the guy who was handling the till. 00:15:05.710 --> 00:15:09.220 align:middle line:84% And I said, I found this in the basement, is it for sale? 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:10.120 align:middle line:90% And he said, yes. 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:11.713 align:middle line:90% And we talked about a price. 00:15:11.713 --> 00:15:13.630 align:middle line:84% And we arrived at one that I thought was fair. 00:15:13.630 --> 00:15:15.490 align:middle line:90% And I paid him. 00:15:15.490 --> 00:15:17.830 align:middle line:84% And took it off to my hotel room and borrowed 00:15:17.830 --> 00:15:23.110 align:middle line:84% one of my wife's Bobby pins, and picked the lock, opened it up. 00:15:23.110 --> 00:15:28.600 align:middle line:84% And inside were all of these pieces of very old paper, 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:33.970 align:middle line:90% quite old crumbling brown paper. 00:15:33.970 --> 00:15:40.395 align:middle line:84% And in various hands, were written poems. 00:15:40.395 --> 00:15:42.520 align:middle line:84% And of course, I was absolutely fascinated by this. 00:15:42.520 --> 00:15:46.150 align:middle line:90% So I began to read. 00:15:46.150 --> 00:15:49.180 align:middle line:84% And to my great amazement I discovered 00:15:49.180 --> 00:15:50.335 align:middle line:90% that they were Wanda poems. 00:15:50.335 --> 00:15:53.290 align:middle line:90% 00:15:53.290 --> 00:15:56.390 align:middle line:84% So I thought I would read one of them to you. 00:15:56.390 --> 00:15:59.020 align:middle line:84% This is one of the poems that is not my work. 00:15:59.020 --> 00:16:02.410 align:middle line:84% One of the poems that I found in the box this 00:16:02.410 --> 00:16:05.425 align:middle line:84% is called "Robyn Hode and Maid Wanda." 00:16:05.425 --> 00:16:10.480 align:middle line:90% 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.660 align:middle line:84% In somer when the shawes be sheyne, 00:16:13.660 --> 00:16:19.570 align:middle line:84% and wodes do sprytly ryng, hit is so mery in the leves 00:16:19.570 --> 00:16:23.020 align:middle line:90% to here the briddis syng. 00:16:23.020 --> 00:16:29.340 align:middle line:84% A yeman lyved amydst these trees by name of Robyn Hode, a prode, 00:16:29.340 --> 00:16:35.170 align:middle line:84% and mery outlaw he, yet ful of certaine gude. 00:16:35.170 --> 00:16:41.710 align:middle line:84% One day he boed an arow depe into a grene wode tree. 00:16:41.710 --> 00:16:48.880 align:middle line:84% But Robyn nere fell don when the swete barke cryde, ah me! 00:16:48.880 --> 00:16:54.490 align:middle line:84% Fore in the holowe of the tree, a wench hae hidde herself. 00:16:54.490 --> 00:17:01.090 align:middle line:84% The yeman to ploke his arow back wode hae gie al his pelf. 00:17:01.090 --> 00:17:06.579 align:middle line:84% Robyn toke herr up from thair and bonde her wunde sae sorre. 00:17:06.579 --> 00:17:13.569 align:middle line:84% He loked upon her wyth gladde eye for she was fare and morre. 00:17:13.569 --> 00:17:18.550 align:middle line:84% Now in the grene wode do they lyve with lytle Johnn, 00:17:18.550 --> 00:17:21.220 align:middle line:90% Scarloke, and Monke. 00:17:21.220 --> 00:17:25.720 align:middle line:84% Mony a wondrous tyme hae they hadde, ful 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:27.805 align:middle line:84% mony more shaftes hae been sonke. 00:17:27.805 --> 00:17:34.390 align:middle line:90% 00:17:34.390 --> 00:17:35.995 align:middle line:90% OK, that's enough Wanda poems. 00:17:35.995 --> 00:17:38.910 align:middle line:90% 00:17:38.910 --> 00:17:42.265 align:middle line:84% This is a poem called "The History of Bears." 00:17:42.265 --> 00:17:45.947 align:middle line:90% 00:17:45.947 --> 00:17:46.905 align:middle line:90% "The History of Bears." 00:17:46.905 --> 00:17:49.770 align:middle line:90% 00:17:49.770 --> 00:17:53.640 align:middle line:84% The bear came out of night, shambling and humming 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:55.170 align:middle line:90% to itself. 00:17:55.170 --> 00:17:59.160 align:middle line:84% Until it smelled man in the cave. 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:01.260 align:middle line:90% The hair on its back stood up. 00:18:01.260 --> 00:18:04.750 align:middle line:90% It groaned and tossed its head. 00:18:04.750 --> 00:18:07.650 align:middle line:84% Bear looked into the cave and saw its images 00:18:07.650 --> 00:18:09.690 align:middle line:90% on walls and ceiling. 00:18:09.690 --> 00:18:12.900 align:middle line:84% Saw Zimmer cowering in the corner. 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:17.280 align:middle line:84% Bear sniffed again and went away. 00:18:17.280 --> 00:18:20.580 align:middle line:90% Zimmer feared the bear like God. 00:18:20.580 --> 00:18:25.290 align:middle line:84% He watched until it gave in to its years, then cut it open, 00:18:25.290 --> 00:18:29.130 align:middle line:84% ate the sacred marrow from its bones, the brain 00:18:29.130 --> 00:18:35.760 align:middle line:84% from its ponderous skull, trying to learn the love of bear. 00:18:35.760 --> 00:18:40.140 align:middle line:84% The bear lopes in the morning, its fur 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:45.960 align:middle line:84% pungent and steaming, its drool spattering the frost. 00:18:45.960 --> 00:18:48.510 align:middle line:84% Last night, the noise of Zimmer's dogs 00:18:48.510 --> 00:18:51.540 align:middle line:90% ripped through its uneasy sleep. 00:18:51.540 --> 00:18:55.080 align:middle line:84% Today it will retreat once more over 00:18:55.080 --> 00:19:00.090 align:middle line:84% the crumbled primal asphalt past the gray broken shanties 00:19:00.090 --> 00:19:04.440 align:middle line:84% and the tangles of old copper wire. 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:09.240 align:middle line:84% The bear smells ancient stories under the turf, scattered bones 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:12.000 align:middle line:84% and teeth of terrible encounters. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:15.810 align:middle line:84% He rips his claws down the maple bark 00:19:15.810 --> 00:19:18.690 align:middle line:90% and laps at the redolent syrup. 00:19:18.690 --> 00:19:22.290 align:middle line:84% He hears how the wind desires the trees, how 00:19:22.290 --> 00:19:25.140 align:middle line:84% storms make them bow and dip their canopies 00:19:25.140 --> 00:19:26.940 align:middle line:90% in strange light. 00:19:26.940 --> 00:19:31.440 align:middle line:84% He drinks cold sludge from the creek and moves on. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:35.010 align:middle line:84% Zimmer loves what the bear has lost. 00:19:35.010 --> 00:19:38.160 align:middle line:84% Sun through new leaves, and dazzle of fish, 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:42.420 align:middle line:84% and thrashing currents, berries on the logging roads, 00:19:42.420 --> 00:19:45.270 align:middle line:90% business in broken elms. 00:19:45.270 --> 00:19:47.610 align:middle line:90% And long dreams under the snow. 00:19:47.610 --> 00:19:52.000 align:middle line:90% 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.070 align:middle line:90% Well, I mentioned my dogs. 00:19:54.070 --> 00:19:56.170 align:middle line:90% So I'll read a poem about them. 00:19:56.170 --> 00:19:57.445 align:middle line:90% I have crazy dogs. 00:19:57.445 --> 00:20:01.030 align:middle line:90% 00:20:01.030 --> 00:20:07.840 align:middle line:84% Like most people that have dogs, I'm a slave to them. 00:20:07.840 --> 00:20:09.970 align:middle line:84% I really questioned whether I'm the master at all. 00:20:09.970 --> 00:20:13.110 align:middle line:90% 00:20:13.110 --> 00:20:16.620 align:middle line:84% I debated whether to call this the hounds of the Zimmerville, 00:20:16.620 --> 00:20:21.330 align:middle line:84% but instead I call it "The Dogs of Zimmer." 00:20:21.330 --> 00:20:27.210 align:middle line:90% 00:20:27.210 --> 00:20:30.090 align:middle line:84% The tether of the eons holds them. 00:20:30.090 --> 00:20:33.330 align:middle line:84% There is order and habit in their love. 00:20:33.330 --> 00:20:36.540 align:middle line:84% But sometimes, they turn on each other in frustration 00:20:36.540 --> 00:20:39.720 align:middle line:90% snarling and flashing teeth. 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:43.230 align:middle line:84% On moonlit nights, they grow restless hearing things that 00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:44.880 align:middle line:90% they cannot see. 00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:48.750 align:middle line:84% They chew on pillows, wet the rugs. 00:20:48.750 --> 00:20:51.810 align:middle line:84% A busy man should have perfect dogs. 00:20:51.810 --> 00:20:55.260 align:middle line:84% But Zimmer's dogs go flick, flick, flick, 00:20:55.260 --> 00:20:57.990 align:middle line:84% moaning and thumping the floorboards. 00:20:57.990 --> 00:21:00.480 align:middle line:84% They tongue his hand in the night 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:03.300 align:middle line:90% and make him get up to pee. 00:21:03.300 --> 00:21:07.170 align:middle line:84% Sometimes when he unchains them, they whisk away 00:21:07.170 --> 00:21:09.480 align:middle line:90% before he can call them back. 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:13.350 align:middle line:84% He does not know where they go or what they do. 00:21:13.350 --> 00:21:16.200 align:middle line:84% He spends hours wistfully calling them. 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.440 align:middle line:84% He imagines how they snuffle postholes, raise 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.650 align:middle line:84% their dingy hinders to great stones or tunnel 00:21:22.650 --> 00:21:25.020 align:middle line:90% into ancient graves. 00:21:25.020 --> 00:21:29.730 align:middle line:84% But always, when it seems worst that they have gone into woods, 00:21:29.730 --> 00:21:33.240 align:middle line:84% joining packs to overrun the suburbs, 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:37.110 align:middle line:84% it's flick, flick, flick outside his windows. 00:21:37.110 --> 00:21:39.900 align:middle line:84% And Zimmer opens to see them smiling. 00:21:39.900 --> 00:21:43.590 align:middle line:84% The wild lights in their eyes grown dim. 00:21:43.590 --> 00:21:46.020 align:middle line:84% They bang the doorway with their tails. 00:21:46.020 --> 00:21:48.723 align:middle line:90% 00:21:48.723 --> 00:21:49.515 align:middle line:90% Cute little devils. 00:21:49.515 --> 00:21:52.380 align:middle line:90% 00:21:52.380 --> 00:21:54.120 align:middle line:90% The guy has been in my poems. 00:21:54.120 --> 00:21:57.410 align:middle line:84% He's been my adversary, almost from the very first time 00:21:57.410 --> 00:21:58.410 align:middle line:90% I started writing poems. 00:21:58.410 --> 00:22:00.200 align:middle line:90% His name is Imbellis. 00:22:00.200 --> 00:22:01.950 align:middle line:84% And I'm always running into him and having 00:22:01.950 --> 00:22:03.820 align:middle line:90% a lot of trouble with him. 00:22:03.820 --> 00:22:08.130 align:middle line:84% And so this is a poem called "The Ancient Wars." 00:22:08.130 --> 00:22:10.230 align:middle line:84% And it's in the form of an exchange 00:22:10.230 --> 00:22:14.340 align:middle line:84% that I have with Imbellis, of letters. 00:22:14.340 --> 00:22:17.040 align:middle line:84% The first part of the poem is, I'm 00:22:17.040 --> 00:22:18.840 align:middle line:90% writing a letter to Imbellis. 00:22:18.840 --> 00:22:21.240 align:middle line:84% And in the second part of the poem, 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.060 align:middle line:84% he is responding to me in a letter. 00:22:24.060 --> 00:22:26.760 align:middle line:84% And the poem is called "The Ancient Wars." 00:22:26.760 --> 00:22:30.900 align:middle line:90% 00:22:30.900 --> 00:22:35.610 align:middle line:84% Dear Imbellis, when I think of the old days, 00:22:35.610 --> 00:22:41.490 align:middle line:84% I start to bleed again recalling my terrified exits, the alleys 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:45.780 align:middle line:84% and swamps I hid in, your fist exploding in my face 00:22:45.780 --> 00:22:48.900 align:middle line:84% and the light fog of concussions. 00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:52.710 align:middle line:84% I wonder, old bull, old turk, old hammer, 00:22:52.710 --> 00:22:55.170 align:middle line:84% if we passed each other on the street, 00:22:55.170 --> 00:22:59.470 align:middle line:84% would your anger spill out again over your eye rooms, 00:22:59.470 --> 00:23:02.910 align:middle line:84% would your ears redden like a rooster's wattle? 00:23:02.910 --> 00:23:05.910 align:middle line:84% Would you knock my bridge back down my throat 00:23:05.910 --> 00:23:10.140 align:middle line:84% and beat my glasses back into my dim eyes? 00:23:10.140 --> 00:23:13.860 align:middle line:84% I like to think that by now you have relented, 00:23:13.860 --> 00:23:17.700 align:middle line:84% that some woman or work has doused your fires. 00:23:17.700 --> 00:23:22.320 align:middle line:84% That if we met again, we would slap each other on the back 00:23:22.320 --> 00:23:25.980 align:middle line:84% and laugh about the ancient wars. 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:33.030 align:middle line:84% Imbellis, old bravo, super pug, could we be friends now? 00:23:33.030 --> 00:23:35.730 align:middle line:90% Would you let me forgive you? 00:23:35.730 --> 00:23:38.910 align:middle line:90% Peace, Zimmer. 00:23:38.910 --> 00:23:43.320 align:middle line:90% And this is Imbellis's response. 00:23:43.320 --> 00:23:49.020 align:middle line:84% Dear Zimmer, remember how you loved the Friday night fights? 00:23:49.020 --> 00:23:52.500 align:middle line:84% That was always you and me in the ring circling, 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:55.680 align:middle line:84% jabbing, throwing classic combinations 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:58.800 align:middle line:90% until the abrupt explosion. 00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:02.670 align:middle line:84% My fist crashing down like boulders and your body 00:24:02.670 --> 00:24:04.710 align:middle line:90% suddenly limp. 00:24:04.710 --> 00:24:09.390 align:middle line:84% You collapsing as a hammered cow into your own spit and blood, 00:24:09.390 --> 00:24:13.020 align:middle line:84% as the crowd came to its feet growling and hooting. 00:24:13.020 --> 00:24:16.260 align:middle line:84% You on the canvas flapping and quaking. 00:24:16.260 --> 00:24:19.260 align:middle line:84% You crawling up the ropes to your feet. 00:24:19.260 --> 00:24:22.020 align:middle line:90% And me sledging you down again. 00:24:22.020 --> 00:24:24.600 align:middle line:84% And you screaming at the television. 00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:25.620 align:middle line:90% Stop it. 00:24:25.620 --> 00:24:29.520 align:middle line:90% Stop it, remember? 00:24:29.520 --> 00:24:33.030 align:middle line:90% Zimmer, start sweating again. 00:24:33.030 --> 00:24:38.190 align:middle line:84% I am waiting for you still, maybe around the next corner. 00:24:38.190 --> 00:24:42.300 align:middle line:84% One day you'll come blundering into my sights again. 00:24:42.300 --> 00:24:46.110 align:middle line:84% And when you do, I'll clean your clock but good, 00:24:46.110 --> 00:24:51.240 align:middle line:84% shred your cheeks, and roll your bloody teeth, crunch your jaws, 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:54.660 align:middle line:84% and punch your dim lights out forever. 00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:55.840 align:middle line:90% Yours, Imbellis. 00:24:55.840 --> 00:24:58.440 align:middle line:90% 00:24:58.440 --> 00:25:08.850 align:middle line:90% Son of a bitch. 00:25:08.850 --> 00:25:13.860 align:middle line:84% I've only written one other jazz poem. 00:25:13.860 --> 00:25:17.730 align:middle line:84% And I will never write another one, my solemn vow. 00:25:17.730 --> 00:25:20.970 align:middle line:84% But this is another one where I did it right. 00:25:20.970 --> 00:25:24.480 align:middle line:90% 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:29.070 align:middle line:84% One of the great heroes of my youth, or of my life 00:25:29.070 --> 00:25:30.690 align:middle line:90% is Duke Ellington. 00:25:30.690 --> 00:25:38.870 align:middle line:84% I think he was an American natural resource, and probably 00:25:38.870 --> 00:25:42.240 align:middle line:84% one of our two, three great geniuses. 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.450 align:middle line:84% And so this is a poem that I made. 00:25:45.450 --> 00:25:47.910 align:middle line:84% It's called "The Duke Ellington Dream." 00:25:47.910 --> 00:25:49.440 align:middle line:90% "The Duke Ellington Dream." 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:52.820 align:middle line:90% 00:25:52.820 --> 00:25:56.360 align:middle line:84% Of course, Zimmer was late for the gig. 00:25:56.360 --> 00:25:59.450 align:middle line:84% Duke was pissed and growling at the piano. 00:25:59.450 --> 00:26:02.360 align:middle line:84% But Jeep, Brute, Rex, Cat, and Cootie 00:26:02.360 --> 00:26:06.200 align:middle line:84% all moved down on the chairs as Zimmer walked in 00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:07.880 align:middle line:90% with his tenor. 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.510 align:middle line:84% Everyone knew that the boss had arrived. 00:26:11.510 --> 00:26:14.630 align:middle line:84% And Duke slammed out the downbeat for Caravan. 00:26:14.630 --> 00:26:17.390 align:middle line:84% And Zimmer stood up to take his solo. 00:26:17.390 --> 00:26:20.930 align:middle line:84% The whole joint suddenly started jiving. 00:26:20.930 --> 00:26:24.680 align:middle line:84% Chicks came up by the bandstand to hang their lovelies 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:26.060 align:middle line:90% over the rail. 00:26:26.060 --> 00:26:30.260 align:middle line:84% And Duke was sweating, but wouldn't smile through chorus, 00:26:30.260 --> 00:26:33.200 align:middle line:90% after chorus, after chorus. 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.190 align:middle line:84% It was the same with Satin Doll, Do Nothing Till You 00:26:37.190 --> 00:26:42.590 align:middle line:84% Hear From Me, Warm Valley, In A Sentimental Mood. 00:26:42.590 --> 00:26:46.610 align:middle line:84% Zimmer blew them so they would stay played. 00:26:46.610 --> 00:26:49.580 align:middle line:84% And after the final set, he packed his horn 00:26:49.580 --> 00:26:54.590 align:middle line:84% and was heading out when Duke came up and collared him. 00:26:54.590 --> 00:26:59.060 align:middle line:84% Zimmer, he said, you most astonishing ofay. 00:26:59.060 --> 00:27:03.005 align:middle line:84% You have shat upon my charts, but I love you madly. 00:27:03.005 --> 00:27:16.940 align:middle line:90% 00:27:16.940 --> 00:27:18.800 align:middle line:84% This is a poem about a reoccurring dream 00:27:18.800 --> 00:27:21.500 align:middle line:90% that I had for many years. 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:24.500 align:middle line:84% I hate it when a poet says, hey, I'm dreaming. 00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:25.465 align:middle line:90% This is a dream. 00:27:25.465 --> 00:27:26.840 align:middle line:84% A poet should always be dreaming, 00:27:26.840 --> 00:27:27.720 align:middle line:90% you shouldn't have to say that. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.095 align:middle line:84% But anyway, I'm saying it to you. 00:27:29.095 --> 00:27:31.417 align:middle line:90% 00:27:31.417 --> 00:27:32.750 align:middle line:90% I had this dream for many years. 00:27:32.750 --> 00:27:37.940 align:middle line:84% And then I finally decided to make this poem. 00:27:37.940 --> 00:27:41.000 align:middle line:84% And after I made it, I never had the dream again. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:43.560 align:middle line:84% And I'm not sure the poem was worth it. 00:27:43.560 --> 00:27:47.100 align:middle line:90% But here it is. 00:27:47.100 --> 00:27:48.350 align:middle line:90% It's called "The Great House." 00:27:48.350 --> 00:27:52.120 align:middle line:90% 00:27:52.120 --> 00:27:55.330 align:middle line:90% Over and over it happens. 00:27:55.330 --> 00:27:57.970 align:middle line:90% My wife and I are out walking. 00:27:57.970 --> 00:28:02.920 align:middle line:84% We come to a great stone house built into a hillside. 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:05.200 align:middle line:90% We are young again. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:09.370 align:middle line:84% All things seem possible on this perfect day. 00:28:09.370 --> 00:28:12.760 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, we know that the house is ours. 00:28:12.760 --> 00:28:16.150 align:middle line:84% We enter, enjoy, exulting in what we own. 00:28:16.150 --> 00:28:21.130 align:middle line:84% Circular staircases, niches, ballrooms, a dozen rooms 00:28:21.130 --> 00:28:25.570 align:middle line:84% full of leather bound books, lace curtains, puppet theaters, 00:28:25.570 --> 00:28:30.250 align:middle line:84% daguerreotypes, chests full of doilies and ancient manuscript, 00:28:30.250 --> 00:28:34.030 align:middle line:84% hand printing presses, bowls of potpourri. 00:28:34.030 --> 00:28:40.360 align:middle line:84% There are antique cribs, rocking chairs, a canopy bed. 00:28:40.360 --> 00:28:43.330 align:middle line:90% We could start our lives again. 00:28:43.330 --> 00:28:45.820 align:middle line:84% All windows swing open to singing 00:28:45.820 --> 00:28:53.080 align:middle line:84% birds and trees through which we see a whitewashed sunlit city. 00:28:53.080 --> 00:28:55.720 align:middle line:84% At night, after a lingering dinner 00:28:55.720 --> 00:29:01.150 align:middle line:84% and wine, lieder and string quartets by candle glow, 00:29:01.150 --> 00:29:04.960 align:middle line:84% we ascend the tower, open the skylight, 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:09.640 align:middle line:84% and turn the huge reflector into position. 00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:14.680 align:middle line:84% The shimmer that we see has traveled for eons. 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.830 align:middle line:84% Under the circling stars, the birds 00:29:17.830 --> 00:29:23.590 align:middle line:84% against the moon with the vast rooms breathing beneath us, 00:29:23.590 --> 00:29:27.370 align:middle line:84% we know that the only sadness in the world 00:29:27.370 --> 00:29:28.840 align:middle line:90% will be to leave this house. 00:29:28.840 --> 00:29:35.370 align:middle line:90% 00:29:35.370 --> 00:29:37.270 align:middle line:90% I love trees. 00:29:37.270 --> 00:29:39.020 align:middle line:84% And I want to make a poem about them. 00:29:39.020 --> 00:29:41.790 align:middle line:84% This is a much better poem than Joyce Kilmer's poem. 00:29:41.790 --> 00:29:45.120 align:middle line:90% At least I can tell you that. 00:29:45.120 --> 00:29:48.330 align:middle line:90% It's called "A Final Affection." 00:29:48.330 --> 00:29:51.590 align:middle line:90% 00:29:51.590 --> 00:29:55.430 align:middle line:84% I love the accomplishments of trees. 00:29:55.430 --> 00:29:58.250 align:middle line:84% How they try to restrain great storms 00:29:58.250 --> 00:30:01.640 align:middle line:84% and pacify the very worms that eat them. 00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:05.690 align:middle line:84% Even their deaths seem to be considered. 00:30:05.690 --> 00:30:10.280 align:middle line:84% I fear for trees, loving them so much. 00:30:10.280 --> 00:30:15.290 align:middle line:84% I am nervous about each scar on bark, each leaf that browns. 00:30:15.290 --> 00:30:18.470 align:middle line:84% I want to lie in their crotches and sigh 00:30:18.470 --> 00:30:22.560 align:middle line:84% the whisper of sun and rains to come. 00:30:22.560 --> 00:30:24.530 align:middle line:84% And sometimes on summer evenings, 00:30:24.530 --> 00:30:27.290 align:middle line:84% I step out of my house to look at trees, 00:30:27.290 --> 00:30:30.920 align:middle line:84% propping darkness up to the silence. 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:34.290 align:middle line:84% When I die, I want to plant up through those trunks, 00:30:34.290 --> 00:30:38.570 align:middle line:84% so slowly, I will see each rib of bark, 00:30:38.570 --> 00:30:43.640 align:middle line:84% each whorl up through the canopy, the subtle veins 00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:47.640 align:middle line:84% and lobes touching me with final affection. 00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:50.630 align:middle line:84% Then to hover above and look down 00:30:50.630 --> 00:30:54.800 align:middle line:84% one last time on the rich upliftings, 00:30:54.800 --> 00:30:59.510 align:middle line:84% the circle that loves the sun and moon, to see at last 00:30:59.510 --> 00:31:01.400 align:middle line:90% what held the darkness up. 00:31:01.400 --> 00:31:11.420 align:middle line:90% 00:31:11.420 --> 00:31:13.820 align:middle line:90% I've been in love for 25 years. 00:31:13.820 --> 00:31:20.480 align:middle line:84% And I've always, because I resist romantic imagery, 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:24.380 align:middle line:90% I've held off making love poems. 00:31:24.380 --> 00:31:27.153 align:middle line:84% But then I wanted to make a love poem. 00:31:27.153 --> 00:31:29.070 align:middle line:84% And I decided, well, if I'm going to make one, 00:31:29.070 --> 00:31:32.270 align:middle line:90% it's going to be an unusual one. 00:31:32.270 --> 00:31:38.780 align:middle line:84% Because I just don't care to spout romanticism. 00:31:38.780 --> 00:31:40.280 align:middle line:90% So I made this poem. 00:31:40.280 --> 00:31:42.590 align:middle line:90% It's for my wife, Suzanne. 00:31:42.590 --> 00:31:48.103 align:middle line:84% And it's called "An Enzyme Poem for Suzanne." 00:31:48.103 --> 00:31:49.520 align:middle line:84% Most of you know what enzymes are. 00:31:49.520 --> 00:31:53.570 align:middle line:84% They are the catalysts that make fruit juices ferment. 00:31:53.570 --> 00:31:56.150 align:middle line:84% So this is called "An Enzyme Poem for Suzanne." 00:31:56.150 --> 00:31:58.970 align:middle line:90% 00:31:58.970 --> 00:32:03.020 align:middle line:84% What a hulking bore it must be for you. 00:32:03.020 --> 00:32:07.850 align:middle line:84% I slog along, ignoring you like my heartbeat. 00:32:07.850 --> 00:32:11.420 align:middle line:84% I gurgle and mold like an old fruit seller. 00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:14.240 align:middle line:84% And then suddenly, you'll walk through a door 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:18.180 align:middle line:84% and foam me up like ancient cider in heat. 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:23.240 align:middle line:84% And then I'll fall all about you, blathering with lost time, 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:28.160 align:middle line:84% making you numb with words, wanting to mix our molecules, 00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:32.270 align:middle line:84% trying to tell you of weeks in 15 minutes. 00:32:32.270 --> 00:32:35.030 align:middle line:84% And sometimes you must wonder, what the hell 00:32:35.030 --> 00:32:37.120 align:middle line:90% it is with Zimmer. 00:32:37.120 --> 00:32:42.170 align:middle line:84% And this is to tell you that you are my enzymes, my yeast, 00:32:42.170 --> 00:32:44.765 align:middle line:84% all the things that make my cork go pop. 00:32:44.765 --> 00:32:56.480 align:middle line:90% 00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:57.560 align:middle line:90% One of my favorite-- 00:32:57.560 --> 00:32:59.990 align:middle line:84% I return a lot to different poets 00:32:59.990 --> 00:33:04.850 align:middle line:84% to gain strength when I'm not writing well or doing well, 00:33:04.850 --> 00:33:07.660 align:middle line:84% when I'm too busy to do much else. 00:33:07.660 --> 00:33:10.430 align:middle line:84% So one of the poets that I always go back to is Rilke. 00:33:10.430 --> 00:33:16.340 align:middle line:84% And I have gained strength from reading him, and energy. 00:33:16.340 --> 00:33:21.170 align:middle line:90% And I was thinking about how-- 00:33:21.170 --> 00:33:22.070 align:middle line:90% do we know Elegies? 00:33:22.070 --> 00:33:24.440 align:middle line:90% He said that he was-- 00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:26.150 align:middle line:84% I think he was in a room in a castle. 00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:28.910 align:middle line:84% But anyway the angels would come in-- angels 00:33:28.910 --> 00:33:31.070 align:middle line:84% would come into his room and be there 00:33:31.070 --> 00:33:33.110 align:middle line:90% when he worked on the poems. 00:33:33.110 --> 00:33:35.450 align:middle line:84% And I was thinking to myself, hells, 00:33:35.450 --> 00:33:39.070 align:middle line:84% thinking the conditions that I make my poems under, 00:33:39.070 --> 00:33:40.520 align:middle line:90% I think hells-- 00:33:40.520 --> 00:33:44.000 align:middle line:84% angels are never going to come to you. 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.040 align:middle line:84% They couldn't get past my secretary. 00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:50.480 align:middle line:90% 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:55.370 align:middle line:84% So I made this poem in which I brought the angels down 00:33:55.370 --> 00:33:56.550 align:middle line:90% for myself. 00:33:56.550 --> 00:33:58.430 align:middle line:84% It's called "When Angels Came to Zimmer." 00:33:58.430 --> 00:34:02.580 align:middle line:90% 00:34:02.580 --> 00:34:07.320 align:middle line:84% One morning a great gaggle slid down through holes in clouds, 00:34:07.320 --> 00:34:10.830 align:middle line:84% twirling like maple seeds, through the trees 00:34:10.830 --> 00:34:13.080 align:middle line:90% to the windows screen. 00:34:13.080 --> 00:34:16.860 align:middle line:84% Fervent as new tussock moths, they flapped and dashed 00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:20.639 align:middle line:84% themselves, smearing their heavenly dust, 00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:23.940 align:middle line:84% until Zimmer, in pity and alarm, opened 00:34:23.940 --> 00:34:26.909 align:middle line:90% to let them into his study. 00:34:26.909 --> 00:34:29.429 align:middle line:84% They flew in with smiles and sighs, 00:34:29.429 --> 00:34:34.050 align:middle line:84% making him bashful as if a dozen gorgeous chorus girls had 00:34:34.050 --> 00:34:36.870 align:middle line:90% suddenly pranced into the room. 00:34:36.870 --> 00:34:41.850 align:middle line:84% They perched on bookshelves, cigar stubs, and beer cans. 00:34:41.850 --> 00:34:45.389 align:middle line:84% One even tried to sit on Zimmer's lap. 00:34:45.389 --> 00:34:48.090 align:middle line:90% All day, they danced the Lindy. 00:34:48.090 --> 00:34:52.889 align:middle line:84% And some, not knowing better, dabbled their darling toes 00:34:52.889 --> 00:34:55.110 align:middle line:90% in the toilet bowl. 00:34:55.110 --> 00:34:59.940 align:middle line:84% They sang chorus after chorus of Stardust and Moonlight 00:34:59.940 --> 00:35:04.530 align:middle line:84% in Vermont, constantly touching and stroking Zimmer. 00:35:04.530 --> 00:35:09.570 align:middle line:84% And then at day's end, as if someone had rung a bell, 00:35:09.570 --> 00:35:14.550 align:middle line:84% they stood to sing a final chorus of Deep Purple. 00:35:14.550 --> 00:35:18.540 align:middle line:84% With a whoosh of air and expensive perfume, 00:35:18.540 --> 00:35:22.360 align:middle line:84% they fluttered from the room and ascended. 00:35:22.360 --> 00:35:25.560 align:middle line:84% Zimmer stepped out to watch them rise 00:35:25.560 --> 00:35:28.230 align:middle line:84% and flapped his dirty hanky at the stars. 00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:33.330 align:middle line:90% 00:35:33.330 --> 00:35:36.990 align:middle line:84% This is a poem that I didn't write also. 00:35:36.990 --> 00:35:39.600 align:middle line:90% Someone, an old man came up. 00:35:39.600 --> 00:35:44.970 align:middle line:84% I was reading in New England at Middlebury, 00:35:44.970 --> 00:35:47.310 align:middle line:90% about several years ago. 00:35:47.310 --> 00:35:49.710 align:middle line:84% And this old white-haired man came up 00:35:49.710 --> 00:35:50.860 align:middle line:90% and handed me this poem. 00:35:50.860 --> 00:35:52.693 align:middle line:84% It's called "The Death of the Hired Zimmer." 00:35:52.693 --> 00:35:57.610 align:middle line:90% 00:35:57.610 --> 00:36:03.820 align:middle line:84% She sat watching the moth at the candle, waiting for Eli. 00:36:03.820 --> 00:36:09.250 align:middle line:84% When he came home, she ran to tell him, Zimmer is back. 00:36:09.250 --> 00:36:14.020 align:middle line:84% I saw him step out of the woods at noon, and look both ways, 00:36:14.020 --> 00:36:16.300 align:middle line:90% and head for our place. 00:36:16.300 --> 00:36:18.850 align:middle line:90% What can we do? 00:36:18.850 --> 00:36:21.250 align:middle line:90% Be calm, Eli said. 00:36:21.250 --> 00:36:23.410 align:middle line:90% Was he alone? 00:36:23.410 --> 00:36:27.520 align:middle line:84% Only his shadow, a bulge in his pocket. 00:36:27.520 --> 00:36:31.180 align:middle line:84% Eli, be kind, she said, and took the market things 00:36:31.180 --> 00:36:32.590 align:middle line:90% from his arms. 00:36:32.590 --> 00:36:34.120 align:middle line:90% Don't laugh at him. 00:36:34.120 --> 00:36:37.670 align:middle line:90% He has a plan. 00:36:37.670 --> 00:36:40.630 align:middle line:84% I'll go and see him now, he said. 00:36:40.630 --> 00:36:46.150 align:middle line:84% You sit and watch the moon slide through that patch of clouds. 00:36:46.150 --> 00:36:51.590 align:middle line:84% He went, came back too soon, it seemed to her. 00:36:51.590 --> 00:36:52.150 align:middle line:90% Dead? 00:36:52.150 --> 00:36:56.725 align:middle line:84% she questioned as he sat down, drunk was all he answered. 00:36:56.725 --> 00:37:02.890 align:middle line:90% 00:37:02.890 --> 00:37:03.490 align:middle line:90% Bless you. 00:37:03.490 --> 00:37:08.770 align:middle line:90% 00:37:08.770 --> 00:37:11.290 align:middle line:84% I'll read just a few more, a couple more. 00:37:11.290 --> 00:37:15.940 align:middle line:84% It's warm and hard work listening to poems too. 00:37:15.940 --> 00:37:22.990 align:middle line:90% So this is a poem-- 00:37:22.990 --> 00:37:25.400 align:middle line:90% I do a lot of this. 00:37:25.400 --> 00:37:28.990 align:middle line:90% In fact, it's a poem about work. 00:37:28.990 --> 00:37:33.010 align:middle line:90% And I work a lot. 00:37:33.010 --> 00:37:35.420 align:middle line:90% I spend my life working. 00:37:35.420 --> 00:37:36.670 align:middle line:90% Well, most of us do of course. 00:37:36.670 --> 00:37:46.390 align:middle line:84% And I have a desk in an office and a 15 people working for me. 00:37:46.390 --> 00:37:50.500 align:middle line:90% 00:37:50.500 --> 00:37:54.400 align:middle line:84% Sometimes I think my life is as much a referee, being 00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:57.200 align:middle line:90% a referee as anything else. 00:37:57.200 --> 00:37:59.740 align:middle line:84% And I write poems on my lunch hours. 00:37:59.740 --> 00:38:03.250 align:middle line:84% And very early before I catch the bus to work, 00:38:03.250 --> 00:38:05.590 align:middle line:90% I get up and work with my poems. 00:38:05.590 --> 00:38:07.300 align:middle line:90% And so it's my life. 00:38:07.300 --> 00:38:10.160 align:middle line:84% I think about work all the time and do it. 00:38:10.160 --> 00:38:13.048 align:middle line:84% And so I decided I'd make a poem about it. 00:38:13.048 --> 00:38:13.840 align:middle line:90% It's called "Work." 00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:18.850 align:middle line:90% 00:38:18.850 --> 00:38:22.720 align:middle line:84% To have done it 30 years without question. 00:38:22.720 --> 00:38:26.800 align:middle line:84% Yet I tell myself, I am grateful for all work. 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:29.560 align:middle line:84% At noon, in my air conditioned office 00:38:29.560 --> 00:38:34.480 align:middle line:84% with a sandwich and a poem, I try to recollect nature. 00:38:34.480 --> 00:38:38.050 align:middle line:84% But a clerk comes in with papers to be signed. 00:38:38.050 --> 00:38:41.270 align:middle line:84% I tell myself the disruption does not matter. 00:38:41.270 --> 00:38:46.930 align:middle line:84% It is all work, computer runs, contracts, invoices, poems, 00:38:46.930 --> 00:38:51.310 align:middle line:84% the same as breaking shells, hunting woods, making pots, 00:38:51.310 --> 00:38:53.410 align:middle line:90% or gathering grain. 00:38:53.410 --> 00:38:57.190 align:middle line:84% Jazzmen even refer to sex as work. 00:38:57.190 --> 00:39:01.240 align:middle line:84% Some primitive people believe that death is work. 00:39:01.240 --> 00:39:04.390 align:middle line:84% When my wife asks what I am doing, 00:39:04.390 --> 00:39:10.000 align:middle line:84% I always answer, I am working, working, working. 00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:16.530 align:middle line:84% Now I will spend the rest of my life trying for perfect work. 00:39:16.530 --> 00:39:19.930 align:middle line:84% A work as rare as Aurora borealis, 00:39:19.930 --> 00:39:22.900 align:middle line:84% so fine it will make all other work 00:39:22.900 --> 00:39:28.270 align:middle line:84% seem true, that will last as long as words will last. 00:39:28.270 --> 00:39:34.000 align:middle line:84% At home in my room, I mumble to myself over my poems. 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:36.580 align:middle line:90% Over supper, I talk to myself. 00:39:36.580 --> 00:39:39.310 align:middle line:84% As I carpenter, or paint, or carry the groceries 00:39:39.310 --> 00:39:43.930 align:middle line:84% up the steps, I am speaking words to myself. 00:39:43.930 --> 00:39:45.340 align:middle line:90% What are you doing? 00:39:45.340 --> 00:39:47.680 align:middle line:90% my children ask. 00:39:47.680 --> 00:39:49.855 align:middle line:90% I am working, working, working. 00:39:49.855 --> 00:39:56.080 align:middle line:90% 00:39:56.080 --> 00:39:58.960 align:middle line:90% This should be the last poem. 00:39:58.960 --> 00:40:01.300 align:middle line:84% This is a nice way to say goodbye to you. 00:40:01.300 --> 00:40:05.540 align:middle line:90% 00:40:05.540 --> 00:40:07.390 align:middle line:84% It's called "Zimmer Imagines Heaven." 00:40:07.390 --> 00:40:12.690 align:middle line:90% 00:40:12.690 --> 00:40:16.980 align:middle line:84% I sit with Joseph Conrad in Monet's garden. 00:40:16.980 --> 00:40:20.730 align:middle line:84% We are listening to Yeats chant his poems. 00:40:20.730 --> 00:40:24.840 align:middle line:84% A breeze stirs through Thomas Hardy's mustache. 00:40:24.840 --> 00:40:28.950 align:middle line:84% John Skelton has gone to the house for beer. 00:40:28.950 --> 00:40:33.060 align:middle line:84% Wanda Landowska lightly fingers a clavichord. 00:40:33.060 --> 00:40:36.840 align:middle line:84% Along the spruce tree walk, Roberto Clemente and Thurman 00:40:36.840 --> 00:40:41.100 align:middle line:84% Munson whistle the baseball back and forth. 00:40:41.100 --> 00:40:45.570 align:middle line:84% Mozart chats with Ellington in the roses. 00:40:45.570 --> 00:40:49.590 align:middle line:84% Monet smokes and dabs his canvas in the sun. 00:40:49.590 --> 00:40:53.520 align:middle line:84% Brueghel and Turner set easels behind the wisteria. 00:40:53.520 --> 00:40:57.930 align:middle line:84% The band is warming up in the big studio, Bean, Brute, Bird, 00:40:57.930 --> 00:41:02.940 align:middle line:84% and Serge on saxes, Kai, Bill Harris, Lawrence Brown, 00:41:02.940 --> 00:41:07.710 align:middle line:84% trombones, Little Jazz, Clifford, Fats on trumpet, 00:41:07.710 --> 00:41:13.080 align:middle line:84% Klook plays drums, Mingus bass, Bud the piano. 00:41:13.080 --> 00:41:17.220 align:middle line:84% Later, Madam Schumann Heink will sing Schubert. 00:41:17.220 --> 00:41:21.210 align:middle line:84% The monks of Benedictine Abby will chant. 00:41:21.210 --> 00:41:25.650 align:middle line:84% There will be more poems from Emily Dickinson, James Wright, 00:41:25.650 --> 00:41:30.360 align:middle line:84% John Clare, Walt Whitman, Richard Hugo. 00:41:30.360 --> 00:41:35.100 align:middle line:84% Shakespeare rehearses players for King Lear. 00:41:35.100 --> 00:41:39.150 align:middle line:84% At dusk, Alice Toklas brings out platters 00:41:39.150 --> 00:41:42.930 align:middle line:84% of sweet breads, salad livoniere, and a tureen 00:41:42.930 --> 00:41:45.780 align:middle line:90% of gaspacho of Malaga. 00:41:45.780 --> 00:41:50.490 align:middle line:84% After the meal, Brahms passes fine cigars. 00:41:50.490 --> 00:41:56.340 align:middle line:84% God comes then, radiant with the bottle of cognac, 00:41:56.340 --> 00:42:00.030 align:middle line:84% she pours generously into the snifters. 00:42:00.030 --> 00:42:05.020 align:middle line:84% I tell her, I have begun to learn what heaven is about. 00:42:05.020 --> 00:42:06.900 align:middle line:90% And she wants to hear. 00:42:06.900 --> 00:42:11.820 align:middle line:84% It is, I say, being thankful for eternity. 00:42:11.820 --> 00:42:15.790 align:middle line:84% Her smile is the best part of the day. 00:42:15.790 --> 00:42:16.290 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:42:16.290 --> 00:42:18.740 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:42:18.740 --> 00:42:23.000 align:middle line:90%