WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.720 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.840 align:middle line:90% This poem is Chronic Meanings. 00:00:03.840 --> 00:00:07.860 align:middle line:84% It's for Lee Hickman, who was an editor of Temblor, 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:11.310 align:middle line:84% one of the best magazines that printed 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:15.075 align:middle line:84% a wide range of experimental work out of LA in the '80s. 00:00:15.075 --> 00:00:18.090 align:middle line:90% 00:00:18.090 --> 00:00:20.040 align:middle line:84% Lee Hickman was an exemplary editor, 00:00:20.040 --> 00:00:23.430 align:middle line:84% hard worker, typesetter, typeset the magazine, 00:00:23.430 --> 00:00:26.640 align:middle line:90% typeset to pay for the magazine. 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:33.210 align:middle line:84% I heard he had contracted AIDS and wanted 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:35.730 align:middle line:84% to say something to him, who I didn't know very well, 00:00:35.730 --> 00:00:37.210 align:middle line:90% but who I respected quite a bit. 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:42.300 align:middle line:84% And so I wrote this and sent it to him, and it actually got-- 00:00:42.300 --> 00:00:44.370 align:middle line:84% it was right at the end of the last issue. 00:00:44.370 --> 00:00:49.560 align:middle line:84% So it's sort of in lieu of a letter about the conditions 00:00:49.560 --> 00:00:50.460 align:middle line:90% of mortality. 00:00:50.460 --> 00:00:54.040 align:middle line:90% 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:54.540 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:54.540 --> 00:00:57.870 align:middle line:84% That's enough of that, I guess, of an introduction. 00:00:57.870 --> 00:01:01.710 align:middle line:90% It's five word lines. 00:01:01.710 --> 00:01:04.800 align:middle line:90% Chronic Meanings. 00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:07.950 align:middle line:90% The single fact is matter. 00:01:07.950 --> 00:01:11.250 align:middle line:90% Five words can say only. 00:01:11.250 --> 00:01:14.990 align:middle line:90% Black sky at night reasonably. 00:01:14.990 --> 00:01:18.710 align:middle line:90% I am the irrational residue. 00:01:18.710 --> 00:01:21.260 align:middle line:90% Blown up chain link fence. 00:01:21.260 --> 00:01:24.290 align:middle line:84% Next morning, stronger than ever. 00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:27.390 align:middle line:90% Midnight, the pain is almost. 00:01:27.390 --> 00:01:31.220 align:middle line:84% The train seems practically expressive. 00:01:31.220 --> 00:01:33.800 align:middle line:90% A story familiar as a. 00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:37.650 align:middle line:90% Society has broken into bands. 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:41.040 align:middle line:90% The 19th century was sure. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:44.890 align:middle line:84% Characters in the withering capital. 00:01:44.890 --> 00:01:48.420 align:middle line:90% The heroic figure straddled the. 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:52.120 align:middle line:90% Clouds enveloped the tallest. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:55.400 align:middle line:90% Tens of thousands of drops. 00:01:55.400 --> 00:01:59.330 align:middle line:84% The monster struggled with Milton. 00:01:59.330 --> 00:02:05.780 align:middle line:84% On our wedding night I. The sorrow burned deeper than. 00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:09.650 align:middle line:90% Grimly I pursued what violence. 00:02:09.650 --> 00:02:13.190 align:middle line:90% A trap, a catch a. 00:02:13.190 --> 00:02:17.070 align:middle line:90% Fans stand up yelling their. 00:02:17.070 --> 00:02:20.370 align:middle line:90% Lights go off in houses. 00:02:20.370 --> 00:02:23.960 align:middle line:90% A fictional look not quite. 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:27.230 align:middle line:90% To be able to talk. 00:02:27.230 --> 00:02:30.860 align:middle line:84% The coffee sounds intriguing, but. 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:34.140 align:middle line:90% She put her cards on. 00:02:34.140 --> 00:02:38.020 align:middle line:84% What had been comfortable subjectivity. 00:02:38.020 --> 00:02:41.210 align:middle line:90% The lesson we can each. 00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:44.560 align:middle line:90% Not enough time to thoroughly. 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:48.810 align:middle line:84% Structure announces structure and takes. 00:02:48.810 --> 00:02:52.480 align:middle line:90% He caught his breath in. 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:57.470 align:middle line:84% The vista disclosed no immediate. 00:02:57.470 --> 00:03:01.130 align:middle line:90% Alone with a pun in. 00:03:01.130 --> 00:03:04.840 align:middle line:90% The clock face and the. 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:07.870 align:middle line:90% Rock of Ages, a modern. 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:11.040 align:middle line:90% I think I had better. 00:03:11.040 --> 00:03:14.280 align:middle line:90% Now this particular mall seemed. 00:03:14.280 --> 00:03:17.460 align:middle line:90% The bag of groceries had. 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:22.320 align:middle line:84% Whether a biographical junkheap or. 00:03:22.320 --> 00:03:29.810 align:middle line:84% In no sense do I. These fields make me feel. 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:33.200 align:middle line:90% Mount Rushmore in a sonnet. 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:35.960 align:middle line:90% Some in the party tried. 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:38.660 align:middle line:90% So it's not as if. 00:03:38.660 --> 00:03:41.870 align:middle line:90% That always happened until one. 00:03:41.870 --> 00:03:45.070 align:middle line:90% She spread her arms and. 00:03:45.070 --> 00:03:48.600 align:middle line:90% The sky, if anything, grew. 00:03:48.600 --> 00:03:51.930 align:middle line:90% Which left a lot of. 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:54.870 align:middle line:90% No one could help it. 00:03:54.870 --> 00:04:00.760 align:middle line:84% I ran farther than I. That wasn't the good one. 00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:04.090 align:middle line:90% Now put down your pencils. 00:04:04.090 --> 00:04:07.060 align:middle line:90% They won't pull that over. 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:09.840 align:middle line:90% Standing up to the empire. 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.730 align:middle line:90% Stop it screaming in a. 00:04:12.730 --> 00:04:14.140 align:middle line:90% The smell of pine needles. 00:04:14.140 --> 00:04:16.990 align:middle line:90% 00:04:16.990 --> 00:04:20.860 align:middle line:90% Economics is not my strong. 00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:23.560 align:middle line:90% Until one of us reads. 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.720 align:middle line:90% I took a breath then. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:31.790 align:middle line:84% The singular heroic vision unilaterally. 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:36.170 align:middle line:90% Voices imitate the very words. 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:39.810 align:middle line:90% Bed was one place where. 00:04:39.810 --> 00:04:41.460 align:middle line:90% A personal life, a toaster. 00:04:41.460 --> 00:04:44.080 align:middle line:90% 00:04:44.080 --> 00:04:48.460 align:middle line:84% Memorized experience can't be completely. 00:04:48.460 --> 00:04:51.820 align:middle line:84% The impossibility of the simplest. 00:04:51.820 --> 00:04:54.880 align:middle line:90% So shut the fucking thing. 00:04:54.880 --> 00:04:57.820 align:middle line:90% Now I've gone and put. 00:04:57.820 --> 00:05:00.010 align:middle line:90% But that makes the world. 00:05:00.010 --> 00:05:03.040 align:middle line:90% The point I am trying. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:06.700 align:middle line:90% Like a cartoon worm on. 00:05:06.700 --> 00:05:10.200 align:middle line:90% A physical mouth without speech. 00:05:10.200 --> 00:05:11.400 align:middle line:90% If taken to an extreme. 00:05:11.400 --> 00:05:14.250 align:middle line:90% 00:05:14.250 --> 00:05:17.700 align:middle line:90% The phone is for someone. 00:05:17.700 --> 00:05:20.070 align:middle line:90% The next second it seemed. 00:05:20.070 --> 00:05:22.950 align:middle line:90% But did that really mean. 00:05:22.950 --> 00:05:26.940 align:middle line:90% Yeah, Los Angeles is full. 00:05:26.940 --> 00:05:30.680 align:middle line:90% Naturally enough, I turn to. 00:05:30.680 --> 00:05:35.180 align:middle line:84% Some things are reversible, some. 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:37.670 align:middle line:90% You don't have that choice. 00:05:37.670 --> 00:05:40.550 align:middle line:90% I'm going to Joe's for. 00:05:40.550 --> 00:05:43.630 align:middle line:90% Now I've heard everything he. 00:05:43.630 --> 00:05:46.810 align:middle line:90% One time when I used. 00:05:46.810 --> 00:05:50.910 align:middle line:84% The amount of dissatisfaction involved. 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:53.970 align:middle line:90% The weather isn't all it's. 00:05:53.970 --> 00:05:56.730 align:middle line:90% You'd think people would have. 00:05:56.730 --> 00:05:59.340 align:middle line:90% Or that they would invent. 00:05:59.340 --> 00:06:03.260 align:middle line:90% At least if the emotional. 00:06:03.260 --> 00:06:06.820 align:middle line:90% The presence of an illusion. 00:06:06.820 --> 00:06:10.730 align:middle line:90% Symbiosis of home and prison. 00:06:10.730 --> 00:06:13.430 align:middle line:84% Then, having become superfluous, time. 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:16.490 align:middle line:90% 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:20.040 align:middle line:90% One has to give to. 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:24.260 align:middle line:90% Taste the first and last. 00:06:24.260 --> 00:06:26.690 align:middle line:90% I remember the look in. 00:06:26.690 --> 00:06:28.790 align:middle line:90% It was the first time. 00:06:28.790 --> 00:06:33.280 align:middle line:84% Some gorgeous swelling feeling that. 00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:35.095 align:middle line:90% Success which owes its fortune. 00:06:35.095 --> 00:06:38.260 align:middle line:90% 00:06:38.260 --> 00:06:41.810 align:middle line:90% Come what may, it can't. 00:06:41.810 --> 00:06:44.650 align:middle line:90% There are a number of. 00:06:44.650 --> 00:06:48.150 align:middle line:90% But there is only one. 00:06:48.150 --> 00:06:50.800 align:middle line:90% That's why I want to. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:07:04.000 align:middle line:90%