WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.910 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.910 --> 00:00:02.588 align:middle line:84%
Anyway, what about
breastfeeding?

00:00:02.588 --> 00:00:04.630 align:middle line:84%
I bet you were waiting
for me to talk about that.

00:00:04.630 --> 00:00:08.102 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:00:08.102 --> 00:00:17.030 align:middle line:90%


00:00:17.030 --> 00:00:20.150 align:middle line:84%
This is a poem about
breastfeeding, in a way,

00:00:20.150 --> 00:00:21.170 align:middle line:90%
or I thought it was.

00:00:21.170 --> 00:00:27.380 align:middle line:84%
And my wife told me it was
actually about sex, which--

00:00:27.380 --> 00:00:31.430 align:middle line:84%
I'm an obtuse fellow, so
I'm glad I'm married to her.

00:00:31.430 --> 00:00:34.010 align:middle line:84%
The poem's called "A
Story About America."

00:00:34.010 --> 00:00:37.790 align:middle line:90%


00:00:37.790 --> 00:00:41.720 align:middle line:84%
If it is late Sunday in the
brain, and sunlight falling

00:00:41.720 --> 00:00:43.940 align:middle line:84%
on the wall of the
food court, and you

00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:46.670 align:middle line:84%
tell me your
daughter at 18 months

00:00:46.670 --> 00:00:50.210 align:middle line:84%
still breastfeeds, and if
I, with my slightly younger

00:00:50.210 --> 00:00:52.790 align:middle line:84%
daughter, sitting at
the next table nod,

00:00:52.790 --> 00:00:56.210 align:middle line:84%
but say nothing,
nothing while you speak

00:00:56.210 --> 00:00:58.670 align:middle line:84%
of the vicissitudes
of cracked nipples

00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:01.760 align:middle line:84%
and late night
feedings, then I am

00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:04.730 align:middle line:84%
someone, who is, you
can tell yourself,

00:01:04.730 --> 00:01:08.780 align:middle line:84%
an odd man, dumb
and probably weird.

00:01:08.780 --> 00:01:12.860 align:middle line:84%
Weird, weird enough to
see in the baffling dear

00:01:12.860 --> 00:01:17.960 align:middle line:84%
creature you are a classical
subject for a civilized poet

00:01:17.960 --> 00:01:23.680 align:middle line:84%
in an innocent land,
such as ours would be.

00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:27.910 align:middle line:84%
In that poem, you
would still be a woman,

00:01:27.910 --> 00:01:32.770 align:middle line:84%
but made out now as a beautiful,
thinly tall broomstick,

00:01:32.770 --> 00:01:37.570 align:middle line:84%
pale but not at all bony,
with encircling copper

00:01:37.570 --> 00:01:40.705 align:middle line:90%
necklace and threaded red sash.

00:01:40.705 --> 00:01:43.650 align:middle line:90%


00:01:43.650 --> 00:01:46.480 align:middle line:90%
I have a devil.

00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:50.690 align:middle line:90%
I own a devil, my devil.

00:01:50.690 --> 00:01:52.955 align:middle line:84%
And he'd defend
whoever is saying--

00:01:52.955 --> 00:01:55.810 align:middle line:90%


00:01:55.810 --> 00:01:58.080 align:middle line:90%
so, all right.

00:01:58.080 --> 00:02:05.560 align:middle line:84%
I am strange, a usually
shameful matter for an American,

00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.490 align:middle line:84%
and would make myself
even more so to you

00:02:09.490 --> 00:02:13.680 align:middle line:84%
by revealing a
secret from my life.

00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:16.050 align:middle line:90%
It's something.

00:02:16.050 --> 00:02:19.830 align:middle line:84%
I watched my wife feed our
girl the milk as both seemed

00:02:19.830 --> 00:02:25.020 align:middle line:84%
to sleep those minutes until the
baby stopped, started crying,

00:02:25.020 --> 00:02:28.620 align:middle line:84%
and I took her downstairs,
and walked back and forth

00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.050 align:middle line:90%
on the planked oak floor.

00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:34.860 align:middle line:90%
It was 3:31 AM.

00:02:34.860 --> 00:02:40.290 align:middle line:84%
And I put the music on low,
only to initiate my daughter

00:02:40.290 --> 00:02:42.510 align:middle line:90%
into the religion of Bob Dylan.

00:02:42.510 --> 00:02:45.000 align:middle line:90%


00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.190 align:middle line:84%
Will I ride on a
mail train, baby?

00:02:48.190 --> 00:02:51.580 align:middle line:90%
Can't buy a thrill.

00:02:51.580 --> 00:02:54.700 align:middle line:84%
Ain't it just like the
night to play tricks when

00:02:54.700 --> 00:02:58.210 align:middle line:90%
you're trying to be so quiet?

00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:04.960 align:middle line:84%
I want you to know these things,
and how we did stomp that tune.

00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:07.590 align:middle line:90%
So, what are you waiting for?

00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:08.720 align:middle line:90%
Go ahead.

00:03:08.720 --> 00:03:10.710 align:middle line:90%
Ask.

00:03:10.710 --> 00:03:14.130 align:middle line:84%
Don't hold your breath
if you want to breathe,

00:03:14.130 --> 00:03:16.340 align:middle line:90%
my beautiful broom.

00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:18.216 align:middle line:90%