WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.310 align:middle line:84% Living in San Francisco, I've been there for 20 years now, 00:00:05.310 --> 00:00:08.820 align:middle line:84% something would occur, not infrequently, and that would be, 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:11.610 align:middle line:84% I'd be walking down the street and a total stranger 00:00:11.610 --> 00:00:14.580 align:middle line:84% would take me for somebody that they were intimate 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:17.328 align:middle line:90% with, that they knew, that-- 00:00:17.328 --> 00:00:18.400 align:middle line:90% hey, how are you? 00:00:18.400 --> 00:00:20.940 align:middle line:84% Nice to see you again, or whatever. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:24.360 align:middle line:84% So this would happen over and over 00:00:24.360 --> 00:00:27.960 align:middle line:84% and I finally decided, why don't I, 00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:33.900 align:middle line:84% for the pleasure of an audience, put it all together in one poem? 00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:37.200 align:middle line:84% All right, see what a bargain that is? 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.280 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:40.920 align:middle line:90% This is called "Addis Ababa." 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:42.570 align:middle line:90% Where is Addis Ababa? 00:00:42.570 --> 00:00:45.640 align:middle line:90% So a little geography lesson. 00:00:45.640 --> 00:00:46.140 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:00:46.140 --> 00:00:47.820 align:middle line:90% Is it the capital? 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:48.630 align:middle line:90% Yes, it is. 00:00:48.630 --> 00:00:53.400 align:middle line:90% And it's a very, very nice. 00:00:53.400 --> 00:00:56.070 align:middle line:90% You get an award afterwards. 00:00:56.070 --> 00:00:59.190 align:middle line:90% Talk to Alison. 00:00:59.190 --> 00:01:00.480 align:middle line:90% It's a very Islamic city. 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:01.950 align:middle line:90% Did you know that? 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:04.379 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:06.570 align:middle line:84% You just had Ethiopian food tonight? 00:01:06.570 --> 00:01:08.327 align:middle line:90% So synchronicity abounds. 00:01:08.327 --> 00:01:09.910 align:middle line:84% This is what you're trying to tell me? 00:01:09.910 --> 00:01:10.410 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:01:10.410 --> 00:01:13.140 align:middle line:90% 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:13.815 align:middle line:90% "Addis Ababa." 00:01:13.815 --> 00:01:17.040 align:middle line:90% 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.260 align:middle line:84% I like this poem for one simple reason, 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:22.650 align:middle line:84% and maybe I shouldn't be talking like this, but hey, I'm here, 00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:25.380 align:middle line:90% I'm going to talk. 00:01:25.380 --> 00:01:29.040 align:middle line:84% And that is, it got me thinking who are you really? 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:33.420 align:middle line:84% I mean, are you given-- do have an identity when 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:34.200 align:middle line:90% you're all alone? 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:35.670 align:middle line:90% Or is it only-- 00:01:35.670 --> 00:01:38.250 align:middle line:84% does it only exist when you're out in the world? 00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:42.660 align:middle line:84% And the world reflects back to you, a sense of who you are. 00:01:42.660 --> 00:01:43.810 align:middle line:90% "Addis Ababa." 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:47.610 align:middle line:84% I'm nobody until I leave my house. 00:01:47.610 --> 00:01:49.740 align:middle line:84% Then a man for whom the street is 00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:54.300 align:middle line:84% the house he is bound to tips his old trucker's hat in passing 00:01:54.300 --> 00:01:58.620 align:middle line:84% and wishes me a Happy New Year, Your Honor. 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.860 align:middle line:84% I shall return his good cheer with some fast food-cum-booze 00:02:01.860 --> 00:02:04.290 align:middle line:84% money, though he hasn't asked for any, 00:02:04.290 --> 00:02:07.440 align:middle line:84% though the spare change that has trickled down into my pocket 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:11.190 align:middle line:84% is too spare to trickle into his. 00:02:11.190 --> 00:02:16.350 align:middle line:84% At the bank the teller with eternal pout smiles warmly, 00:02:16.350 --> 00:02:21.120 align:middle line:84% calls me sir, says what a pleasure it is to see me again. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:24.900 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, I'm a magnate of invisible means. 00:02:24.900 --> 00:02:28.110 align:middle line:84% Still, I cross the street quickly when I catch the wild 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:31.560 align:middle line:84% eye of a bristle-face, he of the unbuttoned cuffs, 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.260 align:middle line:84% trailing shirttail, untied shoelace, 00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:35.640 align:middle line:90% as though he saw me coming-- 00:02:35.640 --> 00:02:38.040 align:middle line:84% his would-be patron, his answered prayer-- 00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:41.560 align:middle line:84% and rushed to dress for the occasion. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.490 align:middle line:84% Please, Allah, I have a job, I swear-- 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:47.160 align:middle line:84% Addis Ababa Market, between Turk and Eddy-- 00:02:47.160 --> 00:02:51.360 align:middle line:84% but they say first I must have shave and shower. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:58.950 align:middle line:84% I go to YMCA, or YWCA it doesn't matter, depending on your bent. 00:02:58.950 --> 00:03:02.190 align:middle line:84% They say $5 for shave and shower-- 00:03:02.190 --> 00:03:04.740 align:middle line:84% and already I'm turning away, wondering what the hell I pay 00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:06.480 align:middle line:90% my worthless bodyguards for-- 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:09.520 align:middle line:90% 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:11.428 align:middle line:84% Please, Allah, you give me the $5 00:03:11.428 --> 00:03:12.970 align:middle line:84% and I promise you, next week you come 00:03:12.970 --> 00:03:15.190 align:middle line:84% to Addis Ababa, between Turk and Eddy, 00:03:15.190 --> 00:03:17.650 align:middle line:84% and you will have your money back, 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:19.810 align:middle line:84% and by now he has secured my arm, 00:03:19.810 --> 00:03:25.630 align:middle line:84% so I pull out a bill so crisp I could cut his hairy throat. 00:03:25.630 --> 00:03:27.700 align:middle line:84% But he counters with another tack. 00:03:27.700 --> 00:03:33.970 align:middle line:84% No Allah, $5, I beg of you, please, Allah, 00:03:33.970 --> 00:03:36.880 align:middle line:84% and the beggar drops smoothly to his knees, 00:03:36.880 --> 00:03:40.930 align:middle line:90% as eons of tradition demand. 00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:45.550 align:middle line:84% The lunching law students, the sweet-smelling future wanglers 00:03:45.550 --> 00:03:49.510 align:middle line:84% of America, are only mildly interested in this type 00:03:49.510 --> 00:03:54.220 align:middle line:84% of negotiation, but I urge him to get up, get up. 00:03:54.220 --> 00:03:57.220 align:middle line:84% I have to shout at him to take the little I'm offering, 00:03:57.220 --> 00:04:01.630 align:middle line:84% which is better than the nothing I imagine he's used to-- 00:04:01.630 --> 00:04:05.260 align:middle line:84% and he does, though perfunctorily, no thank you, 00:04:05.260 --> 00:04:09.790 align:middle line:84% no smile, no more invocations of the deity, 00:04:09.790 --> 00:04:11.905 align:middle line:84% his zeal reserved for an easier mark. 00:04:11.905 --> 00:04:15.250 align:middle line:90% 00:04:15.250 --> 00:04:20.769 align:middle line:84% And months later, in a city that is not Addis Ababa, 00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:26.110 align:middle line:84% I am back to not being a circuit judge or an oil sheikh, 00:04:26.110 --> 00:04:31.300 align:middle line:84% but still hear that nagging please, Allah, please, Allah, 00:04:31.300 --> 00:04:34.780 align:middle line:84% rising through me as through a minaret: 00:04:34.780 --> 00:04:37.060 align:middle line:84% the open arches far above the stone 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:40.930 align:middle line:84% floor, the filthy rich and the dirt poor 00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:43.900 align:middle line:84% prostrate on the same prayer rug, 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:47.410 align:middle line:84% bowing to an ancient and intricate design, 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:52.890 align:middle line:84% the light with its thin fingers touching every one of them.