WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 align:middle line:90%


00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:02.980 align:middle line:90%
So I'm from Virginia.

00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:06.163 align:middle line:84%
I grew up on the East Coast, so
a lot of the poems in this book

00:00:06.163 --> 00:00:08.580 align:middle line:84%
are about Virginia or just
feature some of that landscape.

00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:12.040 align:middle line:84%
So there's a lot of
green, and this poem

00:00:12.040 --> 00:00:13.580 align:middle line:90%
started in a memory of cicadas.

00:00:13.580 --> 00:00:16.840 align:middle line:84%
I don't know if you all have--
yes-- experienced cicadas.

00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:18.532 align:middle line:84%
I remember the
first time as a kid,

00:00:18.532 --> 00:00:20.740 align:middle line:84%
they came up from the ground
right after seven years.

00:00:20.740 --> 00:00:22.600 align:middle line:84%
And I have this memory
that I don't know

00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:24.060 align:middle line:90%
if it's real or not anymore.

00:00:24.060 --> 00:00:25.840 align:middle line:84%
I guess it doesn't
matter anymore,

00:00:25.840 --> 00:00:28.440 align:middle line:84%
but we all let them crawl all
over us at the playground.

00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:31.560 align:middle line:84%
And I remember kids daring
each other to eat them.

00:00:31.560 --> 00:00:33.800 align:middle line:90%
I know, gross.

00:00:33.800 --> 00:00:37.200 align:middle line:84%
And I honestly can't remember if
they did or not, but in my mind,

00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:38.140 align:middle line:90%
I think we did.

00:00:38.140 --> 00:00:41.560 align:middle line:90%
So Cicada Summer.

00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:43.160 align:middle line:84%
"The cicadas come
from the ground

00:00:43.160 --> 00:00:46.540 align:middle line:84%
and enter the world in currents,
streaming down tree trunks,

00:00:46.540 --> 00:00:50.600 align:middle line:84%
over branches, across sidewalks
and roads, the males pulsing

00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:53.560 align:middle line:90%
their abdomens, singing for sex.

00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.720 align:middle line:84%
In the field behind the
school, Suzi and her classmates

00:00:56.720 --> 00:01:00.100 align:middle line:84%
stand still as dozens
climb over their bodies,

00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:02.640 align:middle line:84%
careful not to crush
the winged insects

00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.440 align:middle line:84%
beneath their feet,
fearful of littering

00:01:05.440 --> 00:01:07.960 align:middle line:90%
the ground with broken glass.

00:01:07.960 --> 00:01:10.500 align:middle line:84%
Suzi collects every
wing she can find.

00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:15.600 align:middle line:84%
Each one becomes a small body of
water she carries in her pocket,

00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:19.320 align:middle line:84%
a broken window pane
she holds to each eye.

00:01:19.320 --> 00:01:21.600 align:middle line:84%
She counts dozens
more on her way home

00:01:21.600 --> 00:01:23.960 align:middle line:84%
and imagines how
they would taste.

00:01:23.960 --> 00:01:27.340 align:middle line:84%
Hands in her pockets, touching
the wings, each fingertip,

00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:31.120 align:middle line:84%
she wonders, would they still
sing on the way to death,

00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:33.880 align:middle line:84%
and would it sound
any different?

00:01:33.880 --> 00:01:37.640 align:middle line:84%
Today, she walks through an
even field of green and spits

00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:41.120 align:middle line:84%
into tall grass,
the roots of trees,

00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.560 align:middle line:84%
listens as the
clicking of cicadas

00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.360 align:middle line:90%
fills her body with song.

00:01:46.360 --> 00:01:49.900 align:middle line:84%
The green lacerates her ankles,
and she imagines her blood,

00:01:49.900 --> 00:01:54.160 align:middle line:84%
mixed with dirt, will nourish,
will add to the muscle tremor

00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:56.070 align:middle line:90%
of the Earth."

00:01:56.070 --> 00:01:57.000 align:middle line:90%