WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.540 align:middle line:90%


00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:05.070 align:middle line:84%
I had the pleasure of working
with Yevgeny Yevtushenko

00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:07.390 align:middle line:90%
in California years ago.

00:00:07.390 --> 00:00:09.150 align:middle line:84%
And one of the
things that's always

00:00:09.150 --> 00:00:13.500 align:middle line:84%
fascinated me about poetry
in just about every place--

00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:18.450 align:middle line:84%
but in settler countries,
countries such as ours,

00:00:18.450 --> 00:00:21.810 align:middle line:84%
and Australia, and
New Zealand, Canada,

00:00:21.810 --> 00:00:24.300 align:middle line:84%
places like that
that are new, they

00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:29.490 align:middle line:84%
don't have those old,
old traditions out

00:00:29.490 --> 00:00:31.890 align:middle line:90%
of which poetry bubbles.

00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:35.610 align:middle line:84%
So when you used to read
about people like Voznesensky

00:00:35.610 --> 00:00:40.800 align:middle line:84%
or Yevtushenko getting
up in Red Square

00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:44.490 align:middle line:84%
and there are
250,000 people there

00:00:44.490 --> 00:00:47.940 align:middle line:84%
to hear them read, what
you have to keep in mind

00:00:47.940 --> 00:00:51.180 align:middle line:84%
is that they were
fortunate to have

00:00:51.180 --> 00:00:53.100 align:middle line:90%
a tradition that was so old.

00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:57.190 align:middle line:84%
As modernists, they just built
on what was already there.

00:00:57.190 --> 00:00:59.820 align:middle line:90%
It's like our musicians.

00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:01.380 align:middle line:84%
No matter how
contemporary they are,

00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:03.880 align:middle line:84%
if they're American musicians,
they're building on the blues

00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:05.510 align:middle line:84%
if they're playing
American music.

00:01:05.510 --> 00:01:08.310 align:middle line:84%
It doesn't matter what
they're playing, whether it's

00:01:08.310 --> 00:01:12.210 align:middle line:84%
Reba, or Willie Nelson, or
George Gershwin, or John

00:01:12.210 --> 00:01:15.960 align:middle line:90%
Coltrane, or Kenny G., even.

00:01:15.960 --> 00:01:17.970 align:middle line:84%
You're building
on something that

00:01:17.970 --> 00:01:19.830 align:middle line:90%
was started quite a while ago.

00:01:19.830 --> 00:01:25.320 align:middle line:84%
So that in our country, because
everything is fragmented

00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:28.680 align:middle line:84%
the way that it
isn't new, you have

00:01:28.680 --> 00:01:34.290 align:middle line:84%
to go to references that
everybody knows in common that

00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:41.000 align:middle line:84%
are usually in pop culture,
either commercials, or pop

00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:42.250 align:middle line:90%
music, or something like that.

00:01:42.250 --> 00:01:46.980 align:middle line:84%
So I'm always looking for
ways to relate to people

00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:48.840 align:middle line:90%
with familiar references.

00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:51.630 align:middle line:84%
So with that in mind,
here's a poem called

00:01:51.630 --> 00:01:56.520 align:middle line:90%
Big Bopper For Beginners.

00:01:56.520 --> 00:01:58.570 align:middle line:90%
Crazy.

00:01:58.570 --> 00:02:01.530 align:middle line:84%
It took post-grad on
top of post-grad course,

00:02:01.530 --> 00:02:05.280 align:middle line:84%
but finally, he began to
understand what we talk

00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.000 align:middle line:90%
about when we talk about love.

00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:13.920 align:middle line:84%
Talk about, tell about,
cry about, sing about love.

00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:17.760 align:middle line:90%
Oh, baby, that's what I like.

00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:20.430 align:middle line:84%
The freshman knew
only how to outwit

00:02:20.430 --> 00:02:25.200 align:middle line:84%
the lonely part of himself
weaned on cinematic champagne

00:02:25.200 --> 00:02:30.360 align:middle line:84%
and flowering hearts on
grand, green sleeves.

00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:33.540 align:middle line:84%
Chantilly lace
and a pretty face.

00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:36.390 align:middle line:90%
He dwelled in outer space.

00:02:36.390 --> 00:02:39.300 align:middle line:84%
Unconscious is far
too kind a word.

00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:41.730 align:middle line:90%
The fool was dumb.

00:02:41.730 --> 00:02:44.230 align:middle line:90%
Today, you'd put it another way.

00:02:44.230 --> 00:02:47.580 align:middle line:84%
Now they'd say, the
dumbing down of love

00:02:47.580 --> 00:02:51.420 align:middle line:84%
would have rolled right off of
him like a long-legged goose,

00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:53.880 align:middle line:84%
like a duck, like a
rubber off his dick.

00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:55.230 align:middle line:90%
[LAUGHTER]

00:02:55.230 --> 00:02:58.440 align:middle line:84%
He saw beauty,
histories of mystery,

00:02:58.440 --> 00:03:02.250 align:middle line:84%
eyes that flirt, the heart
that hurts, hot hair,

00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:04.800 align:middle line:90%
a ponytail dangling down.

00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.530 align:middle line:84%
His angle, moreover,
was to clown

00:03:07.530 --> 00:03:11.460 align:middle line:84%
in the back row during
lecture, relishing impressions

00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:17.040 align:middle line:84%
he longed to lay down hard on
this one big-eyed girl he would

00:03:17.040 --> 00:03:20.940 align:middle line:84%
build his world around
for ages to come.

00:03:20.940 --> 00:03:22.260 align:middle line:90%
Dumb?

00:03:22.260 --> 00:03:24.270 align:middle line:90%
The boy was tetched.

00:03:24.270 --> 00:03:27.510 align:middle line:84%
Too lazy for sections,
he sketched and dreamed.

00:03:27.510 --> 00:03:30.510 align:middle line:84%
He would ease through
blue books and quizzes

00:03:30.510 --> 00:03:33.390 align:middle line:90%
by the skin of his curve.

00:03:33.390 --> 00:03:38.370 align:middle line:84%
He lasted this way for
years, on nerve and juice.

00:03:38.370 --> 00:03:42.000 align:middle line:84%
But when it came time
to hang and act loose,

00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.290 align:middle line:84%
to make a run for the border,
to take the new order,

00:03:46.290 --> 00:03:49.440 align:middle line:84%
I want the house, I want
my health care back,

00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:52.590 align:middle line:84%
and I'm the one who really
needs the Nordic track.

00:03:52.590 --> 00:03:55.260 align:middle line:90%
He realized what he had.

00:03:55.260 --> 00:03:57.810 align:middle line:90%
His degree was undergrad.

00:03:57.810 --> 00:04:01.980 align:middle line:84%
It took post-grad course
on top of post-grad course,

00:04:01.980 --> 00:04:05.940 align:middle line:84%
but finally, spinally,
he began to get it,

00:04:05.940 --> 00:04:09.980 align:middle line:84%
to understand what we talk
about when we talk about,

00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:14.580 align:middle line:84%
hawk about, take tests, invest
in, and get psyched about what

00:04:14.580 --> 00:04:19.555 align:middle line:90%
we still like about love.

00:04:19.555 --> 00:04:20.055 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:20.055 --> 00:04:20.800 align:middle line:90%
Thank you.

00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:23.850 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:04:23.850 --> 00:04:29.000 align:middle line:90%