WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:04.150 align:middle line:84% Now, I'm going to read a poem that is 50 years old. 00:00:04.150 --> 00:00:07.356 align:middle line:84% Because it's 50 years old, it's politically incorrect. 00:00:07.356 --> 00:00:09.970 align:middle line:90% 00:00:09.970 --> 00:00:14.600 align:middle line:84% So in case anyone picks up on this. 00:00:14.600 --> 00:00:17.210 align:middle line:84% Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do I read first? 00:00:17.210 --> 00:00:20.360 align:middle line:90% The poem or-- 00:00:20.360 --> 00:00:23.720 align:middle line:84% I'll read-- I'll do it like this. 00:00:23.720 --> 00:00:25.500 align:middle line:90% 50 years ago, I wrote this poem. 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.180 align:middle line:84% It was based on this book I had, with pictures in it. 00:00:29.180 --> 00:00:31.850 align:middle line:90% It's called "Lapland." 00:00:31.850 --> 00:00:35.420 align:middle line:84% The little Lapp girl wanders around picking cloudberries 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:39.650 align:middle line:84% while the bluethroat sings one of his 100 songs. 00:00:39.650 --> 00:00:42.300 align:middle line:84% There are tiny white flowers, too-- 00:00:42.300 --> 00:00:43.220 align:middle line:90% angelica, 00:00:43.220 --> 00:00:45.770 align:middle line:90% and the wild white ranunculus. 00:00:45.770 --> 00:00:49.970 align:middle line:84% The reindeer eat lichen and moss under the melting snow. 00:00:49.970 --> 00:00:52.550 align:middle line:84% Some of the lichen are a thousand years old 00:00:52.550 --> 00:00:55.340 align:middle line:84% and do recognize the modern world. 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:58.860 align:middle line:84% The geography lessons are young in comparison, 00:00:58.860 --> 00:01:01.760 align:middle line:84% though this one is older than most, since 00:01:01.760 --> 00:01:04.819 align:middle line:84% Lapland lies on no map and the little Lapp girl 00:01:04.819 --> 00:01:09.190 align:middle line:84% must be at least 80 by the looks of the book. 00:01:09.190 --> 00:01:11.110 align:middle line:84% It is doubtful she remembers the day 00:01:11.110 --> 00:01:12.670 align:middle line:90% of this photograph. 00:01:12.670 --> 00:01:14.710 align:middle line:90% The pencil-stroke of a birch 00:01:14.710 --> 00:01:17.470 align:middle line:90% can be seen in the distance. 00:01:17.470 --> 00:01:18.740 align:middle line:90% Once in a while 00:01:18.740 --> 00:01:21.220 align:middle line:84% she must still hear the bluethroat and think 00:01:21.220 --> 00:01:23.080 align:middle line:90% of her childhood. 00:01:23.080 --> 00:01:24.650 align:middle line:90% Out of a hundred songs 00:01:24.650 --> 00:01:27.370 align:middle line:84% he has not forgotten the one he sang 00:01:27.370 --> 00:01:29.920 align:middle line:84% on an afternoon when the snow left and 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.520 align:middle line:84% the wild white ranunculus took its place. 00:01:33.520 --> 00:01:35.680 align:middle line:90% But he is the peripheral sort 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:39.730 align:middle line:84% and not at the center of anything. 00:01:39.730 --> 00:01:44.170 align:middle line:84% So when I wrote that poem, I had never heard of the word Sami. 00:01:44.170 --> 00:01:46.810 align:middle line:84% I have since met a Sami poet and heard 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:50.680 align:middle line:84% him sing his own poems in his own language, as well 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:52.730 align:middle line:90% as traditional poems-- 00:01:52.730 --> 00:01:55.670 align:middle line:90% songs that over 100 years old. 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:57.970 align:middle line:84% The Sami are the Indigenous peoples 00:01:57.970 --> 00:02:00.280 align:middle line:90% of northernmost Scandinavia. 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.700 align:middle line:84% If you want to learn more about them, a good place to start 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.940 align:middle line:90% is to watch the film Sami Blood. 00:02:06.940 --> 00:02:10.020 align:middle line:84% If foreign films are not for you, 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:16.170 align:middle line:84% try the Disney hit, Frozen, which is based on a Sami legend, 00:02:16.170 --> 00:02:19.320 align:middle line:84% and the Sami people were delighted by it. 00:02:19.320 --> 00:02:21.890 align:middle line:84% They loved the fact that Disney took an interest 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:23.900 align:middle line:90% in their legends. 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:27.690 align:middle line:84% Anyway, Lapp, a word I use twice in the poem, 00:02:27.690 --> 00:02:30.680 align:middle line:84% is now considered a disrespectful word 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.060 align:middle line:90% to use for the Sami people. 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:37.380 align:middle line:84% But the word Lapland is not disrespectful, 00:02:37.380 --> 00:02:41.630 align:middle line:84% as it is still the Swedish word for the territory the Sami live 00:02:41.630 --> 00:02:42.180 align:middle line:90% in. 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.910 align:middle line:90% Lapland is accepted. 00:02:44.910 --> 00:02:46.790 align:middle line:90% Lapp is not. 00:02:46.790 --> 00:02:50.240 align:middle line:90% What a world we live in anyway. 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:54.380 align:middle line:84% None of this has anything to do with the poem. 00:02:54.380 --> 00:02:57.000 align:middle line:84% And if you don't understand that, 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.470 align:middle line:84% I would go so far as to say you don't understand poetry. 00:03:00.470 --> 00:03:03.170 align:middle line:84% Although the poem is titled "Lapland," 00:03:03.170 --> 00:03:07.513 align:middle line:84% and it's set in Lapland, it's not about Lapland. 00:03:07.513 --> 00:03:10.780 align:middle line:90% 00:03:10.780 --> 00:03:12.400 align:middle line:90% Read again. 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.730 align:middle line:90% "Lapland." 00:03:15.730 --> 00:03:19.720 align:middle line:84% The little Lapp girl wanders around picking cloudberries 00:03:19.720 --> 00:03:23.750 align:middle line:84% while the bluethroat sings one of his hundred songs. 00:03:23.750 --> 00:03:26.920 align:middle line:84% There are tiny white flowers, too-- angelica 00:03:26.920 --> 00:03:29.510 align:middle line:90% and the wild white ranunculus. 00:03:29.510 --> 00:03:33.660 align:middle line:84% The reindeer eat lichen and moss under the melting snow. 00:03:33.660 --> 00:03:36.370 align:middle line:84% Some of the lichen are a thousand years old 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:39.140 align:middle line:84% and do not recognize the modern world. 00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:42.410 align:middle line:84% The geography lessons are young in comparison, 00:03:42.410 --> 00:03:44.980 align:middle line:84% though this one is older than most, since 00:03:44.980 --> 00:03:48.190 align:middle line:84% Lapland lies on no map, and the little Lapp girl 00:03:48.190 --> 00:03:51.700 align:middle line:84% must be at least 80 by the looks of the book. 00:03:51.700 --> 00:03:53.950 align:middle line:84% It is doubtful she remembers the day 00:03:53.950 --> 00:03:55.640 align:middle line:90% of this photograph. 00:03:55.640 --> 00:03:57.430 align:middle line:90% The pencil-stroke of a birch 00:03:57.430 --> 00:03:59.520 align:middle line:90% can be seen in the distance. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:00.590 align:middle line:90% Once in a while 00:04:00.590 --> 00:04:02.500 align:middle line:84% she must still hear the bluethroat and think 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:04.180 align:middle line:90% of her childhood. 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:06.050 align:middle line:90% Out of a hundred songs 00:04:06.050 --> 00:04:08.020 align:middle line:84% He has not forgotten the one he sang 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:10.640 align:middle line:84% on an afternoon when snow left and 00:04:10.640 --> 00:04:13.670 align:middle line:84% the wild white ranunculus took its place. 00:04:13.670 --> 00:04:16.070 align:middle line:90% But he is the peripheral sort 00:04:16.070 --> 00:04:19.540 align:middle line:84% and not at the center of anything. 00:04:19.540 --> 00:04:21.000 align:middle line:90%