WEBVTT

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I was really glad
that my publisher

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allowed me to publish this
book without page numbers.

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It really upset a
couple of my friends.

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They read the book and
liked the book later,

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but they were
really mad at first.

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I gave Eileen Myles a copy.

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It was like a great friend of
mine since I was a teenager

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and Eileen was like,
there's no pages.

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How the hell am I going
to know where I am?

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It became this
whole conversation.

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I was like, would
you just please

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read it and get back to me?

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But it is kind of
funny, because I'm

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used to putting a
piece of paper here

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and I have the page
numbers, so now I

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have to put book
markers on each page.

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I don't know.

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I'm not complaining.

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So the thing is, this
book begins in Seattle.

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I am spending the
lockdown in Seattle.

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And I don't know if you're
familiar with Seattle,

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but it is run by crows.

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There are so many-- it's one of
the largest populations of crows

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on the planet.

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In fact, the Bothell campus
on the edge of the city has

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an international
crow research center,

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and there are 16,000 crows
in that rookery alone.

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And when they cross the
campus, they darken the sky

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and they shit and scream on
everything just like crazy.

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But I've watched them terrorize
humans who deserved it.

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There was a man on the
balcony across from me.

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I was on this top floor
overlooking Elliott Bay,

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and the crows would sit on
his balcony to say hello

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in the morning to one another.

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And he would come
out with a broom.

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And they started bringing
more and more and more crows.

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And then they started
dive bombing him

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when he came out
with that broom.

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He'd be out here and they'd be
like, on the back of his head.

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And he stopped.

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And then they would attack
him going to his car.

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And then he moved.

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[LAUGHTER]

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What an asshole.

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He deserved it.

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But the thing is--

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and the cats.

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Bad city to be a cat.

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The cats run from tree
trunk to tree trunk

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with their backs hunched.

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They'll kind of like hide.

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And the crows follow them,
just like, we see you,

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we're yelling to
let everybody know.

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Scream, scream,
scream, cat, cat, cat.

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That cats don't-- it's great.

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But the thing is, I started
feeding the crows on the ledge.

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And all day long,
crows would come.

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They came immediately, because
they patrol the neighborhoods

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because they know
what's going on.

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Had a little empty hummus
container nailed down,

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and I would fill it with
crackers and nuts and cherries

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and other fruit.

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But they loved it.

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And one crow started hanging
out with me to have lunch,

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and would-- and one day,
the crow closed their eyes

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and leaned in.

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I don't know which was first.

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Maybe they leaned in and
then closed their eyes.

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And I was like, is
this an invitation?

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And I was allowed
to pet their beak.

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And then ruffled this up here.

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Eventually.

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Those came later.

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But this was immediate.

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And then it looked at me like,
all right, that was enough.

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And then they flew off.

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But they started
bringing me gifts.

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And the gifts are in
the back of the book.

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This is the hard
cover, but there's--

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they're beige over
there, if you like beige.

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Well, you can't see
them from here anyway.

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But all the pictures of
the crows, the crows gifts

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are there.

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And the first gift that
I was given was a twig.

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And I wasn't really certain
it was for me at that moment,

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because I was up there
a long time alone.

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And I'm fine with that.

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I'm a Capricorn.

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I didn't care.

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I was busy.

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We wake up working.

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It's a curse.

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Right?

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Yeah.

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[LAUGHS] But we got a lot done.

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And everybody hates you for it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Yeah.

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But the thing is, my
Pisces friends were just

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on the edge of a knife the
whole time during COVID,

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and I felt bad for
them because they

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don't have my Capricorn--
whatever the hell I have.

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So I would be on the
phone and be like,

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let's write a poem
together, let's

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have these relationships
with the refrigerators

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where we keep our bodies before
they become our bodies-- we're

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doing all this stuff
with them, but then I

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wanted to be alone longer.

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I don't know what's
wrong with me.

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So I went down
the Mojave Desert.

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Because nobody wanted
to do an artist

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residency when lockdown ended.

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They were like, no.

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I'm going to Bermuda or
whatever they're doing.

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I was like, I'll go.

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And I got to live in the desert
feeding coyotes and working

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with the kangaroo rats.

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And then, I talk my way into
the MACRO in Rome, Italy,

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to be in an exhibit.

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And they were like, no.

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And I was like, no, really.

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I mean, you have to
be a little assertive,

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because we're the ugly cousins
of the art world, mostly.

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Not here in Tucson, we're not.

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[CHEERING]

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[CLAPS]

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And finally, they said, all
right, but just 11 days,

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not a whole month.

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I was like, great.

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And then I would run
down to the fountain.

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There was this statue of
Artemis that just blew my mind.

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And she's this giant
goddess, as she should be.

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And then there was--

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I was feeding the rats.

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I don't know what's going
on with those rats in Rome.

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They're like, somebody's
shampooing them or something.

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They're so soft, and they're
just not what you expect.

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They really are not.

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And there was a woman--

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I'm almost 60, she was probably
like a decade older than me,

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and she was like, [SHUSHES]
the police will arrest you

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if you-- so we would do look out
for one another, feeding rats.

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And then they would
just crawl right up,

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and be like-- you can pet
them and they were very sweet.

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We need to stop
killing these things,

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these creatures, these people.

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You know what?

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Let me just start reading
from the-- oh, so--

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oh, never mind.

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That's enough.

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[LAUGHTER]