1 00:00:00,988 --> 00:00:03,667 It's my pleasure tonight 2 00:00:03,667 --> 00:00:05,588 to introduce Melissa Range, 3 00:00:05,588 --> 00:00:07,522 who's been spending the day with us. 4 00:00:07,522 --> 00:00:09,488 And that's been really fun. 5 00:00:09,488 --> 00:00:12,128 Visited my 412 class and we had 6 00:00:12,128 --> 00:00:15,517 a great discussion about poetry. 7 00:00:15,517 --> 00:00:17,828 I also want I mentioned Gabriel Hathaway 8 00:00:17,828 --> 00:00:19,208 is having an article coming 9 00:00:19,208 --> 00:00:22,208 out in our student newspaper. 10 00:00:22,208 --> 00:00:24,502 Is that out yet or is it coming in? 11 00:00:24,502 --> 00:00:26,348 Coming out on Wednesday? 12 00:00:26,348 --> 00:00:29,557 So look for that. Melissa Range is 13 00:00:29,557 --> 00:00:31,118 the author of the poetry collection, 14 00:00:31,118 --> 00:00:33,068 Horse and Rider 2010, 15 00:00:33,068 --> 00:00:34,627 and the recipient of awards and 16 00:00:34,627 --> 00:00:35,888 fellowships from the National 17 00:00:35,888 --> 00:00:37,162 Endowment for the Arts, 18 00:00:37,162 --> 00:00:39,638 the American Antiquarian Society, 19 00:00:39,638 --> 00:00:42,622 and the Sewanee Writer's Conference, 20 00:00:42,622 --> 00:00:43,992 the Fine Arts Work 21 00:00:43,992 --> 00:00:46,428 Center in Provincetown and 22 00:00:46,428 --> 00:00:48,003 the Rona Jaffe Foundation. 23 00:00:48,003 --> 00:00:49,817 Originally from East Tennessee 24 00:00:49,817 --> 00:00:50,988 Range currently lives in 25 00:00:50,988 --> 00:00:54,122 Wisconsin and teaches at Lawrence University. 26 00:00:54,122 --> 00:00:55,652 This book, which 27 00:00:55,652 --> 00:00:57,047 she'll begin by reading from, 28 00:00:57,047 --> 00:00:58,457 I think Scriptorium we had 29 00:00:58,457 --> 00:01:00,197 been studying in our 412 class. 30 00:01:00,197 --> 00:01:01,967 It's an amazing book 31 00:01:01,967 --> 00:01:05,537 which both covers medieval scriptoria, 32 00:01:05,537 --> 00:01:07,937 the, the rooms where monks made 33 00:01:07,937 --> 00:01:11,748 those illuminated, handwritten manuscripts. 34 00:01:11,748 --> 00:01:14,267 And it's also a reflection on 35 00:01:14,267 --> 00:01:16,668 Range's own Appalachian roots. 36 00:01:16,668 --> 00:01:18,887 So if you can picture that in your mind, 37 00:01:18,887 --> 00:01:20,597 that span of those two subjects 38 00:01:20,597 --> 00:01:21,677 coming together in 39 00:01:21,677 --> 00:01:25,788 an extremely powerful and convincing way, 40 00:01:25,788 --> 00:01:28,608 then you probably can picture this book in. 41 00:01:28,608 --> 00:01:29,417 You probably want to buy it 42 00:01:29,417 --> 00:01:30,467 and she'll be offering it for 43 00:01:30,467 --> 00:01:33,213 sale after this reading. 44 00:01:33,213 --> 00:01:35,358 So I want to just read what Tracy 45 00:01:35,358 --> 00:01:37,067 K. Smith said because 46 00:01:37,067 --> 00:01:39,063 she chose this book 47 00:01:39,063 --> 00:01:41,522 as the National Poetry Series winner, 48 00:01:41,522 --> 00:01:43,652 which is a big deal. 49 00:01:43,652 --> 00:01:45,857 Each of the poems that says, 50 00:01:45,857 --> 00:01:48,333 Smith in Scriptorium is a marvel. 51 00:01:48,333 --> 00:01:50,687 What may likely strike you on the first read 52 00:01:50,687 --> 00:01:53,357 is Range's remarkable facility with form. 53 00:01:53,357 --> 00:01:56,433 She moves nimbly naturally with comfort and 54 00:01:56,433 --> 00:01:57,902 acrobatic delight 55 00:01:57,902 --> 00:01:59,642 through the rigors of sonnets, 56 00:01:59,642 --> 00:02:02,778 villanelles, anagrams, cento and the like. 57 00:02:02,778 --> 00:02:05,387 But what you will feel more than any of 58 00:02:05,387 --> 00:02:08,103 this I am certain is an urgent usefulness. 59 00:02:08,103 --> 00:02:09,887 These are poems for which form is 60 00:02:09,887 --> 00:02:11,882 not an end in itself. 61 00:02:11,882 --> 00:02:13,787 And I think that's a pretty good introduction 62 00:02:13,787 --> 00:02:16,257 to Melissa Range. 63 00:02:24,608 --> 00:02:27,078 I have turned on the mike. 64 00:02:27,078 --> 00:02:28,968 Can you all hear me okay. 65 00:02:28,968 --> 00:02:31,607 If you at any point 66 00:02:31,607 --> 00:02:33,272 feel like I'm getting muffley 67 00:02:33,272 --> 00:02:35,552 just like kinda let me know. 68 00:02:35,552 --> 00:02:38,417 Let me know. I'll try to be as loud as I can. 69 00:02:38,417 --> 00:02:40,023 I'm thank you all so much for coming out. 70 00:02:40,023 --> 00:02:41,613 I know the weather is kind of funky. 71 00:02:41,613 --> 00:02:43,893 I really enjoyed this hail storm 72 00:02:43,893 --> 00:02:46,278 that I thought it reminded me of a hail storm 73 00:02:46,278 --> 00:02:49,548 back in 1996 when I was 74 00:02:49,548 --> 00:02:51,183 getting my MFA at 75 00:02:51,183 --> 00:02:52,818 Old Dominion University in Norfolk, 76 00:02:52,818 --> 00:02:54,108 Virginia and it dented 77 00:02:54,108 --> 00:02:55,547 the hell out of my car. 78 00:02:55,547 --> 00:02:57,213 So I do that. I have looked 79 00:02:57,213 --> 00:02:59,192 my car different car. 80 00:02:59,192 --> 00:03:01,713 And we'll see if it dented that one too. 81 00:03:01,713 --> 00:03:02,748 That's all right. 82 00:03:02,748 --> 00:03:03,018 You know, 83 00:03:03,018 --> 00:03:04,832 it builds character, builds character. 84 00:03:04,832 --> 00:03:06,677 So I'm going to start off 85 00:03:06,677 --> 00:03:08,613 by reading some points from Scriptorium. 86 00:03:08,613 --> 00:03:10,788 Then I'm going to read some newer poems. 87 00:03:10,788 --> 00:03:13,548 Sound from a third manuscript 88 00:03:13,548 --> 00:03:14,718 of poetry that I'm working on. 89 00:03:14,718 --> 00:03:16,067 And then some poems 90 00:03:16,067 --> 00:03:17,178 that aren't really part of that but, 91 00:03:17,178 --> 00:03:18,872 just their own little thing. 92 00:03:18,872 --> 00:03:20,837 So, like Jim said, 93 00:03:20,837 --> 00:03:22,398 some of the poems in here are 94 00:03:22,398 --> 00:03:25,458 about medieval religious stuff, 95 00:03:25,458 --> 00:03:27,573 medieval art, medieval 96 00:03:27,573 --> 00:03:29,298 poetry like Beowulf and all of 97 00:03:29,298 --> 00:03:33,348 that awesome cold, fatalistic, violent stuff. 98 00:03:33,348 --> 00:03:34,878 And then some poems 99 00:03:34,878 --> 00:03:36,287 about where I'm from in East Tennessee. 100 00:03:36,287 --> 00:03:38,837 And to me what connects everything as this. 101 00:03:38,837 --> 00:03:40,938 For me, that's kind of an emphasis on 102 00:03:40,938 --> 00:03:42,617 the vernacular and 103 00:03:42,617 --> 00:03:45,798 the authority in vernacular speech. 104 00:03:45,798 --> 00:03:48,498 So kind of the heart of the book to 105 00:03:48,498 --> 00:03:51,708 me are some sonnets that are 106 00:03:51,708 --> 00:03:54,468 about the pigments and inks and 107 00:03:54,468 --> 00:03:56,403 other decorations that medieval monks 108 00:03:56,403 --> 00:03:57,448 used in creating 109 00:03:57,448 --> 00:03:58,892 their illuminated manuscripts. 110 00:03:58,892 --> 00:04:01,038 So I'm going to start with a couple of those. 111 00:04:01,038 --> 00:04:03,452 And the first one is called verdigris. 112 00:04:03,452 --> 00:04:07,318 And this is about a green pigment. 113 00:04:07,628 --> 00:04:13,338 Verdigris. Not green as 114 00:04:13,338 --> 00:04:17,133 new weeds or crushed juniper, 115 00:04:17,133 --> 00:04:18,872 but a toxic and 116 00:04:18,872 --> 00:04:23,838 an earthly green meet for inking angel wings, 117 00:04:23,838 --> 00:04:26,162 made from copper sheets, 118 00:04:26,162 --> 00:04:29,087 treated with vapors of wine or 119 00:04:29,087 --> 00:04:34,142 vinegar left to oxidize the calligrapher. 120 00:04:34,142 --> 00:04:36,647 When it's done, he'll cover 121 00:04:36,647 --> 00:04:39,648 calf skin with a fleet of not a beasts, 122 00:04:39,648 --> 00:04:42,047 encaustic green that eats 123 00:04:42,047 --> 00:04:46,228 the page, grieves, the paleography. 124 00:04:46,238 --> 00:04:49,323 There's copper in my brain, 125 00:04:49,323 --> 00:04:51,423 my heart of hearts, 126 00:04:51,423 --> 00:04:55,608 in my blood. And essential mineral. 127 00:04:55,608 --> 00:04:58,743 Too much is poison. 128 00:04:58,743 --> 00:05:00,528 Too much air in 129 00:05:00,528 --> 00:05:03,078 parts thickness to the script. 130 00:05:03,078 --> 00:05:05,658 Once begun, eternal, its 131 00:05:05,658 --> 00:05:09,392 words forever grass in drought, 132 00:05:09,392 --> 00:05:12,812 nor departs my grief. 133 00:05:12,812 --> 00:05:15,377 Green and corrosive as 134 00:05:15,377 --> 00:05:22,398 a gospel. Shall hear that. 135 00:05:22,398 --> 00:05:23,608 Okay. 136 00:05:24,878 --> 00:05:28,517 Well, there's another sonnet about a pigment, 137 00:05:28,517 --> 00:05:29,852 and this is about a red one. 138 00:05:29,852 --> 00:05:31,263 So these monks, and so 139 00:05:31,263 --> 00:05:32,552 I did all this research. 140 00:05:32,552 --> 00:05:35,598 I think I was telling Gabriel, 141 00:05:35,598 --> 00:05:37,352 and when we were talking for an interview 142 00:05:37,352 --> 00:05:39,002 or a newspaper, 143 00:05:39,002 --> 00:05:41,238 I had a lot of library jobs and 144 00:05:41,238 --> 00:05:42,227 I might've been telling the class 145 00:05:42,227 --> 00:05:43,818 about this today to, 146 00:05:43,818 --> 00:05:45,707 you know, do you 147 00:05:45,707 --> 00:05:47,763 want a poet to work in your library? 148 00:05:47,763 --> 00:05:50,267 Because you think they're doing work, 149 00:05:50,267 --> 00:05:51,497 but really they're just researching 150 00:05:51,497 --> 00:05:52,893 for a home they want to, right? 151 00:05:52,893 --> 00:05:54,993 So that's what I did at libraries. 152 00:05:54,993 --> 00:05:56,508 And so I was reading 153 00:05:56,508 --> 00:05:58,307 about this pigment called permease read 154 00:05:58,307 --> 00:05:59,507 and I couldn't believe it 155 00:05:59,507 --> 00:06:02,207 because what I was reading said, 156 00:06:02,207 --> 00:06:03,513 Oh yeah, you know, 157 00:06:03,513 --> 00:06:04,398 they just made this out 158 00:06:04,398 --> 00:06:05,298 of these bugs and they 159 00:06:05,298 --> 00:06:06,378 just squished them and I'm still 160 00:06:06,378 --> 00:06:07,663 slightly wet. 161 00:06:07,663 --> 00:06:08,618 I'm sure they fit in 162 00:06:08,618 --> 00:06:10,133 a more academic way, whatever, 163 00:06:10,133 --> 00:06:11,107 but they squish the bugs 164 00:06:11,107 --> 00:06:11,933 and they made this reading, 165 00:06:11,933 --> 00:06:13,657 which I just cannot believe that this poem 166 00:06:13,657 --> 00:06:16,388 is called kermes red. And it's about that. 167 00:06:16,388 --> 00:06:21,787 Kermes read, called crimson, 168 00:06:21,787 --> 00:06:25,357 called vermilion, little worm. 169 00:06:25,357 --> 00:06:28,492 In both the Persian and the Latin. 170 00:06:28,492 --> 00:06:31,567 Red eggs for the carmine dye. 171 00:06:31,567 --> 00:06:35,317 The insects brood crushed, stillborn. 172 00:06:35,317 --> 00:06:37,267 From her dried body. 173 00:06:37,267 --> 00:06:39,907 A swarm and a bath of Oak, 174 00:06:39,907 --> 00:06:43,507 Ash lie and alum to form the pigment. 175 00:06:43,507 --> 00:06:46,658 The Germans called St. John's blood. 176 00:06:46,658 --> 00:06:50,353 The saint who picked brittle locus, 177 00:06:50,353 --> 00:06:53,283 whose blood became the germ 178 00:06:53,283 --> 00:06:55,648 of a crimson storm. 179 00:06:55,868 --> 00:06:59,417 Christ of the pierced thorax 180 00:06:59,417 --> 00:07:01,397 and worm red cloak. 181 00:07:01,397 --> 00:07:03,767 I read, your death was once for 182 00:07:03,767 --> 00:07:06,512 all. But it's not true. 183 00:07:06,512 --> 00:07:10,308 Your kings and bishops command a book, 184 00:07:10,308 --> 00:07:12,408 a beheading, blood for 185 00:07:12,408 --> 00:07:15,347 blood, the perfect hue. 186 00:07:15,347 --> 00:07:18,348 Thus, I, the worm, 187 00:07:18,348 --> 00:07:20,568 the Baptist, and the scarlet oak. 188 00:07:20,568 --> 00:07:21,978 The all things on 189 00:07:21,978 --> 00:07:24,627 God's earth must die for you. 190 00:07:25,988 --> 00:07:28,728 I have some religious thanks. 191 00:07:28,728 --> 00:07:30,663 You maybe hear them. Yeah, you can laugh. 192 00:07:30,663 --> 00:07:32,357 If a pebble I put a poetry reading. 193 00:07:32,357 --> 00:07:35,357 We're trying to have fun here. And so 194 00:07:35,357 --> 00:07:37,353 I'm going to read now upon. 195 00:07:37,353 --> 00:07:41,597 So kind of weaving through these pumps 196 00:07:41,597 --> 00:07:44,448 about Middle Ages are 197 00:07:44,448 --> 00:07:45,557 also some poems about 198 00:07:45,557 --> 00:07:47,117 where I'm from in East Tennessee. 199 00:07:47,117 --> 00:07:50,277 And I'm trying to preserve 200 00:07:50,528 --> 00:07:52,923 some of the language. 201 00:07:52,923 --> 00:07:53,957 Like I don't know if you all think 202 00:07:53,957 --> 00:07:54,948 about and you have 203 00:07:54,948 --> 00:07:56,118 parents or grandparents 204 00:07:56,118 --> 00:07:57,827 or places you're from, 205 00:07:57,827 --> 00:07:59,897 or where you really feel 206 00:07:59,897 --> 00:08:02,327 tied to that vernacular. 207 00:08:02,327 --> 00:08:03,828 And maybe it's not the kind of 208 00:08:03,828 --> 00:08:05,058 standardized speech that everyone 209 00:08:05,058 --> 00:08:06,048 uses where you're around, 210 00:08:06,048 --> 00:08:07,848 but it's very powerful 211 00:08:07,848 --> 00:08:08,717 that language I think 212 00:08:08,717 --> 00:08:10,307 that we grew up speaking. 213 00:08:10,307 --> 00:08:12,047 So this is a poem about that 214 00:08:12,047 --> 00:08:13,277 Islam has cuss word in it because 215 00:08:13,277 --> 00:08:15,917 my grandmother cost a lot, 216 00:08:15,917 --> 00:08:16,998 actually, the only one 217 00:08:16,998 --> 00:08:18,918 code word to get not easy. 218 00:08:18,918 --> 00:08:20,988 But so she would 219 00:08:20,988 --> 00:08:22,158 say something if you 220 00:08:22,158 --> 00:08:22,758 have the spreadsheet, 221 00:08:22,758 --> 00:08:23,298 you should say something. 222 00:08:23,298 --> 00:08:24,918 What's black is a litter. 223 00:08:24,918 --> 00:08:26,928 And one day I decided to ask her what 224 00:08:26,928 --> 00:08:29,817 a litter was as poem. 225 00:08:30,188 --> 00:08:32,358 Well, it just tells you how 226 00:08:32,358 --> 00:08:34,172 satisfactory her response was 227 00:08:34,172 --> 00:08:38,697 to be flat as a flutter. 228 00:08:38,768 --> 00:08:42,348 The way you can crush a bug or 229 00:08:42,348 --> 00:08:43,578 stomped drained cans of 230 00:08:43,578 --> 00:08:45,647 Schlitz out on the porch. 231 00:08:45,647 --> 00:08:48,617 The bread when it won't rise, 232 00:08:48,617 --> 00:08:50,208 the cake when it 233 00:08:50,208 --> 00:08:53,088 falls after the oven door slams. 234 00:08:53,088 --> 00:08:54,857 The old people had 235 00:08:54,857 --> 00:08:57,933 their way to describe such things. 236 00:08:57,933 --> 00:09:00,542 But what's a flutter? 237 00:09:00,542 --> 00:09:02,597 Always asked my granny. 238 00:09:02,597 --> 00:09:06,933 And she could never say it's just a flutter. 239 00:09:06,933 --> 00:09:10,307 Well, it might be a fritter. 240 00:09:10,307 --> 00:09:12,887 Then why not say fritter? 241 00:09:12,887 --> 00:09:14,178 Shit, Melissa, 242 00:09:14,178 --> 00:09:16,307 because the old people said flutter. 243 00:09:16,307 --> 00:09:18,498 And she smack the fraud pi 244 00:09:18,498 --> 00:09:20,147 into the skillet and 245 00:09:20,147 --> 00:09:21,198 bang to the skill it on 246 00:09:21,198 --> 00:09:24,167 the stove and xik and turn to the pi, 247 00:09:24,167 --> 00:09:26,818 two liquids on its way to burn. 248 00:09:27,518 --> 00:09:30,227 Flatter than a flutter. 249 00:09:30,227 --> 00:09:33,393 A mountain when it's tops blown off. 250 00:09:33,393 --> 00:09:36,753 Dynamited, shaved to the theme. 251 00:09:36,753 --> 00:09:40,533 The spoil pushed into hollers, into streams, 252 00:09:40,533 --> 00:09:42,947 the arsenic slurry cage to behind 253 00:09:42,947 --> 00:09:47,547 a dam teetering above an elementary school. 254 00:09:48,188 --> 00:09:51,872 The old people said, glitter. 255 00:09:51,872 --> 00:09:54,333 They didn't live to see 256 00:09:54,333 --> 00:09:57,482 God's own mountain, turned hazard, 257 00:09:57,482 --> 00:09:59,702 orange mid air pond, 258 00:09:59,702 --> 00:10:01,157 a haze of waste 259 00:10:01,157 --> 00:10:03,837 whose brightness rivals heaven. 260 00:10:04,628 --> 00:10:08,148 When I was a little bitty baby, 261 00:10:08,148 --> 00:10:10,488 my daddy drove up into Virginia 262 00:10:10,488 --> 00:10:13,352 to fix strip mining equipment. 263 00:10:13,352 --> 00:10:15,572 Everything to him. 264 00:10:15,572 --> 00:10:17,493 An innocent machine. 265 00:10:17,493 --> 00:10:22,323 Indeed. On God's own mountain, 266 00:10:22,323 --> 00:10:25,518 poor people drink bad water. 267 00:10:25,518 --> 00:10:27,857 And the heart of the Lord. 268 00:10:27,857 --> 00:10:29,448 The theme of coal gouged 269 00:10:29,448 --> 00:10:31,427 out to fuel the light. 270 00:10:31,427 --> 00:10:33,568 In other places. 271 00:10:33,938 --> 00:10:37,488 The old people didn't live to give a name to 272 00:10:37,488 --> 00:10:41,088 this kingdom of gravel and blast. 273 00:10:41,088 --> 00:10:43,727 Lay me a hunk of coal on 274 00:10:43,727 --> 00:10:45,197 my fluttered tongue to 275 00:10:45,197 --> 00:10:47,133 mark the mountains graves, 276 00:10:47,133 --> 00:10:49,203 to mark my father's tools, 277 00:10:49,203 --> 00:10:52,127 quarrying bread for my baby plate, 278 00:10:52,127 --> 00:10:55,728 to mark my granny slapping DO as if with 279 00:10:55,728 --> 00:11:03,603 God's own flat hand. They'll do an All right. 280 00:11:03,603 --> 00:11:06,407 So maybe it's like 281 00:11:06,407 --> 00:11:07,878 the beautiful silence 282 00:11:07,878 --> 00:11:09,873 of defiance lecture hall. 283 00:11:09,873 --> 00:11:12,468 Lecture halls or fifth fancy. 284 00:11:12,468 --> 00:11:15,228 I'm going to read another poem 285 00:11:15,228 --> 00:11:16,848 about, I'm just, I'm an ink. 286 00:11:16,848 --> 00:11:18,708 So these monks, again, 287 00:11:18,708 --> 00:11:22,132 they were so inventive and this one is about, 288 00:11:22,132 --> 00:11:24,842 imagine some monks being like, Oh well, 289 00:11:24,842 --> 00:11:26,267 my lamp is burned down 290 00:11:26,267 --> 00:11:27,723 and all that's left to sit. 291 00:11:27,723 --> 00:11:29,092 I will make ink from that's 292 00:11:29,092 --> 00:11:30,618 that very inventive. 293 00:11:30,618 --> 00:11:31,848 So that's what this poem is about. 294 00:11:31,848 --> 00:11:37,318 It's called lamp black. Lamp, black. 295 00:11:37,448 --> 00:11:41,373 Black charred plum stone 296 00:11:41,373 --> 00:11:44,433 as a plume from a bone fire. 297 00:11:44,433 --> 00:11:46,817 As a flume of ravens 298 00:11:46,817 --> 00:11:49,547 startled from a battle tree. 299 00:11:49,547 --> 00:11:51,888 This lantern resin, 300 00:11:51,888 --> 00:11:54,797 the monk calls from sit to Quill. 301 00:11:54,797 --> 00:11:59,562 The doom and glory of the Lord won't fade. 302 00:11:59,562 --> 00:12:02,767 The grime of letters traced upon 303 00:12:02,767 --> 00:12:06,338 the ribbon calf skin gleamed dark as 304 00:12:06,338 --> 00:12:08,543 fresh ash on a ribbon 305 00:12:08,543 --> 00:12:13,668 penitent as heaven over owing time. 306 00:12:14,038 --> 00:12:18,278 World, glam, grim, cinder 307 00:12:18,278 --> 00:12:22,597 or is it sin or history? 308 00:12:22,597 --> 00:12:24,307 Or a whims IID hex 309 00:12:24,307 --> 00:12:27,277 that burns all life to tar. 310 00:12:27,277 --> 00:12:29,947 We are dust, carbon 311 00:12:29,947 --> 00:12:31,883 spilled out from your word. 312 00:12:31,883 --> 00:12:34,838 A lamp overturned into the pit of pitch. 313 00:12:34,838 --> 00:12:37,477 Beneath your pin. The ink horn 314 00:12:37,477 --> 00:12:40,427 filled before the world was born. 315 00:12:44,948 --> 00:12:46,638 That's very soon. 316 00:12:46,638 --> 00:12:49,562 We don't know what you'd call it. 317 00:12:49,562 --> 00:12:50,957 Whatever you want to do, 318 00:12:50,957 --> 00:12:52,232 what did you want to do? 319 00:12:52,232 --> 00:12:54,933 So they go like, 320 00:12:54,933 --> 00:12:56,477 like Old English poetry and 321 00:12:56,477 --> 00:12:59,883 here people are like, 322 00:12:59,883 --> 00:13:02,238 well, Old English poetry is amazing. 323 00:13:02,238 --> 00:13:03,377 I'm, even if you just read it 324 00:13:03,377 --> 00:13:04,937 in modern English translation, 325 00:13:04,937 --> 00:13:05,972 it's really great because it, 326 00:13:05,972 --> 00:13:09,152 So I don't know, 327 00:13:09,152 --> 00:13:11,178 it's just so weird and 328 00:13:11,178 --> 00:13:14,237 cold and glacial and dark, 329 00:13:14,237 --> 00:13:15,977 but also funny, which is why I 330 00:13:15,977 --> 00:13:17,058 like it because that builds very 331 00:13:17,058 --> 00:13:18,573 Appalachian to me as well. 332 00:13:18,573 --> 00:13:21,288 And there's a poem called fortunes of men. 333 00:13:21,288 --> 00:13:23,927 So when I was doing my PhD work, 334 00:13:23,927 --> 00:13:25,547 I learned Old English 335 00:13:25,547 --> 00:13:26,658 and translated some poems, 336 00:13:26,658 --> 00:13:28,307 and this one was one I didn't know about. 337 00:13:28,307 --> 00:13:29,507 I knew about Beowulf. 338 00:13:29,507 --> 00:13:30,287 I knew about them and 339 00:13:30,287 --> 00:13:31,368 the other ones that were famous. 340 00:13:31,368 --> 00:13:33,363 But in fortunes of men, 341 00:13:33,363 --> 00:13:34,637 like in the old English poem, 342 00:13:34,637 --> 00:13:35,792 what happens is, 343 00:13:35,792 --> 00:13:39,468 the whole poem is about how God has a plan 344 00:13:39,468 --> 00:13:43,158 for you and you don't have any say in it. 345 00:13:43,158 --> 00:13:45,633 And your fate is basically 346 00:13:45,633 --> 00:13:47,072 just going to happen to you. 347 00:13:47,072 --> 00:13:48,497 That's your fortune. 348 00:13:48,497 --> 00:13:51,107 And so some of 349 00:13:51,107 --> 00:13:52,037 the things that could happen to 350 00:13:52,037 --> 00:13:53,073 you in this poem 351 00:13:53,073 --> 00:13:55,008 are things like you 352 00:13:55,008 --> 00:13:59,133 could become a king and become very famous. 353 00:13:59,133 --> 00:14:01,218 Are you all doing okay vector, melody? 354 00:14:01,218 --> 00:14:04,412 And I think it'll be okay. 355 00:14:04,412 --> 00:14:05,447 Because I feel like 356 00:14:05,447 --> 00:14:06,873 I'm saying something funny, 357 00:14:06,873 --> 00:14:09,737 not thinking. Okay. 358 00:14:09,737 --> 00:14:14,418 So I'm back to something. 359 00:14:14,418 --> 00:14:16,337 You could fall out of 360 00:14:16,337 --> 00:14:18,977 a tall tree to your death. 361 00:14:18,977 --> 00:14:22,023 You could get your arm ripped off by a wolf. 362 00:14:22,023 --> 00:14:23,478 You could fall off 363 00:14:23,478 --> 00:14:26,028 the mead bench onto the floor, 364 00:14:26,028 --> 00:14:28,277 drunk and die there. 365 00:14:28,277 --> 00:14:29,358 So there are many things 366 00:14:29,358 --> 00:14:30,587 that can happen to you. 367 00:14:30,587 --> 00:14:33,677 I mean the truth, mr. Could happen. 368 00:14:33,677 --> 00:14:36,647 So I wondered what would 369 00:14:36,647 --> 00:14:40,127 happen if I set this poem where I grew up? 370 00:14:40,127 --> 00:14:41,782 Because fortunes of men 371 00:14:41,782 --> 00:14:43,698 seems like in the old English poem. 372 00:14:43,698 --> 00:14:45,618 It's a poem about not having any choices. 373 00:14:45,618 --> 00:14:47,448 And that felt very real to me. 374 00:14:47,448 --> 00:14:48,992 So I'm going to read this poem 375 00:14:48,992 --> 00:14:50,147 is called portions of men. 376 00:14:50,147 --> 00:14:52,587 Same titles in the Old English. 377 00:14:53,228 --> 00:14:59,298 Fortunes of men. When a youngins 378 00:14:59,298 --> 00:15:01,502 born only God, 379 00:15:01,502 --> 00:15:03,527 the anoint her nose 380 00:15:03,527 --> 00:15:05,942 with the winters have in store. 381 00:15:05,942 --> 00:15:09,872 The Lord is on him like a duck on a June bug. 382 00:15:09,872 --> 00:15:11,688 The Lord attracts her 383 00:15:11,688 --> 00:15:13,713 like a trained Kuhn hound, 384 00:15:13,713 --> 00:15:16,653 an order, fate and fortune. 385 00:15:16,653 --> 00:15:19,277 Just as it pleases him to do. 386 00:15:19,277 --> 00:15:22,623 To each, he gives a dab. 387 00:15:22,623 --> 00:15:25,788 One, will bring enough of chickens Next 388 00:15:25,788 --> 00:15:27,198 to get to where she hates 389 00:15:27,198 --> 00:15:29,283 the smell, a chicken and dumplings. 390 00:15:29,283 --> 00:15:31,922 One will work the durch. 391 00:15:31,922 --> 00:15:34,502 One will punch a time card. 392 00:15:34,502 --> 00:15:36,842 One will be too agitated 393 00:15:36,842 --> 00:15:40,202 to hold down any job for long. 394 00:15:40,202 --> 00:15:42,963 It is one's doom to get 395 00:15:42,963 --> 00:15:45,573 switched all through life. 396 00:15:45,573 --> 00:15:47,837 The measurer makes trees bear 397 00:15:47,837 --> 00:15:50,607 switches in their seasons. 398 00:15:50,618 --> 00:15:53,373 Another will read his dodge 399 00:15:53,373 --> 00:15:55,247 around the lake of a Saturday night, 400 00:15:55,247 --> 00:15:57,108 lit up on Old Crow, 401 00:15:57,108 --> 00:15:59,237 but we'll never rec, never 402 00:15:59,237 --> 00:16:01,653 run some innocent off the road. 403 00:16:01,653 --> 00:16:04,308 That lucky one will fall into 404 00:16:04,308 --> 00:16:05,988 the yard and pass out 405 00:16:05,988 --> 00:16:08,927 safely in the grass that God, 406 00:16:08,927 --> 00:16:12,567 The sower made to be his bed. 407 00:16:12,878 --> 00:16:18,017 A certain one mixed is Xanax and methadone. 408 00:16:18,017 --> 00:16:20,478 His veins shake him to 409 00:16:20,478 --> 00:16:21,798 a youthful death and 410 00:16:21,798 --> 00:16:24,107 his mother forgets for a moment. 411 00:16:24,107 --> 00:16:26,358 Her husband's dealings with 412 00:16:26,358 --> 00:16:30,827 some skunk per slide into the yellow Camaro, 413 00:16:30,827 --> 00:16:32,687 some high-school boy, 414 00:16:32,687 --> 00:16:36,197 her own name is weary to her. 415 00:16:36,197 --> 00:16:39,032 One must wear the badge, 416 00:16:39,032 --> 00:16:40,457 must kick in the door as 417 00:16:40,457 --> 00:16:42,902 a pot growers and methods and one, 418 00:16:42,902 --> 00:16:45,483 Let's get his door kicked in. 419 00:16:45,483 --> 00:16:48,288 So has the enforcer planned 420 00:16:48,288 --> 00:16:52,467 it to whom men must give thanks. 421 00:16:52,478 --> 00:16:56,043 A certain one must get a job. 422 00:16:56,043 --> 00:16:58,922 They only job from miles around. 423 00:16:58,922 --> 00:17:01,217 As the Lord, the overseer, 424 00:17:01,217 --> 00:17:04,082 ordains data mining mountains 425 00:17:04,082 --> 00:17:05,733 to get at the coal. 426 00:17:05,733 --> 00:17:07,788 Another one must use 427 00:17:07,788 --> 00:17:09,618 the call to hear her stove. 428 00:17:09,618 --> 00:17:11,208 Another one must use 429 00:17:11,208 --> 00:17:13,833 the coal to heat her curling iron. 430 00:17:13,833 --> 00:17:16,607 A certain one gets rich, 431 00:17:16,607 --> 00:17:19,788 converting cheap land, pure water, 432 00:17:19,788 --> 00:17:25,053 cheap labor, into ray on one, 433 00:17:25,053 --> 00:17:27,212 mixed, fix the supper every night. 434 00:17:27,212 --> 00:17:28,787 And one, it must give the supper 435 00:17:28,787 --> 00:17:30,047 away to them. 436 00:17:30,047 --> 00:17:32,938 Worse off just down the pike. 437 00:17:32,948 --> 00:17:35,432 One is good figures. 438 00:17:35,432 --> 00:17:37,802 One is good at nail and boards. 439 00:17:37,802 --> 00:17:40,247 One is good at telling tales. 440 00:17:40,247 --> 00:17:42,408 One is good at meanness, 441 00:17:42,408 --> 00:17:45,093 one is good at making do. 442 00:17:45,093 --> 00:17:47,868 One is good at taking rednecks. 443 00:17:47,868 --> 00:17:52,938 Were rod must one thing of this. 444 00:17:52,938 --> 00:17:58,668 One must, to a certain one is given the harp, 445 00:17:58,668 --> 00:18:00,828 which like the sword, 446 00:18:00,828 --> 00:18:03,078 does not depart from this land. 447 00:18:03,078 --> 00:18:05,567 And that one must praise 448 00:18:05,567 --> 00:18:09,047 God for the sorrow he creates. 449 00:18:09,047 --> 00:18:11,612 So the muddy Lord, 450 00:18:11,612 --> 00:18:14,328 the regulator, deals out to 451 00:18:14,328 --> 00:18:17,342 all across the surface of the Earth. 452 00:18:17,342 --> 00:18:19,923 Also in these hills, 453 00:18:19,923 --> 00:18:23,478 which he makes to crumble as 454 00:18:23,478 --> 00:18:27,977 befits his notions and has plenty. 455 00:18:27,977 --> 00:18:32,973 And his mercies, which one cannot resist, 456 00:18:32,973 --> 00:18:42,738 but does their light 457 00:18:42,738 --> 00:18:44,702 too funny poems in this book, 458 00:18:44,702 --> 00:18:47,358 though, I'll read one of them. 459 00:18:47,358 --> 00:18:53,237 So again, this is kind of one where if you 460 00:18:53,237 --> 00:18:55,757 think about generations that have 461 00:18:55,757 --> 00:18:56,837 come before you and the 462 00:18:56,837 --> 00:18:58,577 language that they use, 463 00:18:58,577 --> 00:19:01,803 and how valuable that language can be to you, 464 00:19:01,803 --> 00:19:04,038 even if you yourself maybe don't use the kind 465 00:19:04,038 --> 00:19:08,132 of slang or phrases that they do. 466 00:19:08,132 --> 00:19:10,097 This is the point for you. 467 00:19:10,097 --> 00:19:15,183 So both of my grandmothers said hit for it. 468 00:19:15,183 --> 00:19:17,328 So instead of saying it's raining 469 00:19:17,328 --> 00:19:19,593 or it is coming a massive hail storm, 470 00:19:19,593 --> 00:19:21,618 they might stay, hits 471 00:19:21,618 --> 00:19:24,393 raining or hits a reigning hits a Haleine. 472 00:19:24,393 --> 00:19:27,767 And so when I started studying Old English, 473 00:19:27,767 --> 00:19:28,847 I was thrilled to see 474 00:19:28,847 --> 00:19:30,557 that hit 475 00:19:30,557 --> 00:19:32,838 with inexistence then I didn't know that. 476 00:19:32,838 --> 00:19:33,497 I just thought that was 477 00:19:33,497 --> 00:19:34,922 something people said where I'm from. 478 00:19:34,922 --> 00:19:36,378 I mean, it was really exciting to see 479 00:19:36,378 --> 00:19:38,178 the connection there and the kind 480 00:19:38,178 --> 00:19:42,928 of old language. So this poem is called hits. 481 00:19:43,418 --> 00:19:46,307 Hit was give to me 482 00:19:46,307 --> 00:19:47,612 the old people's way of 483 00:19:47,612 --> 00:19:51,018 talking and hits a hit. Sometimes. 484 00:19:51,018 --> 00:19:53,507 Sometimes hit is plum forgot 485 00:19:53,507 --> 00:19:55,068 and I dropped the h. That 486 00:19:55,068 --> 00:19:59,972 starts hillbilly, hellfire, hateful Hope. 487 00:19:59,972 --> 00:20:02,627 Center I was hit, hits the back of 488 00:20:02,627 --> 00:20:05,567 MIT and fight his way out for hits, 489 00:20:05,567 --> 00:20:07,143 been around and hits, 490 00:20:07,143 --> 00:20:09,242 tough hits, 491 00:20:09,242 --> 00:20:13,083 Old English hits, middle hits, country. 492 00:20:13,083 --> 00:20:15,302 Here we'll hit on you all day long. 493 00:20:15,302 --> 00:20:18,887 If you'll let hit. When I hit the books, 494 00:20:18,887 --> 00:20:20,732 they tried to hit hit out to me. 495 00:20:20,732 --> 00:20:23,193 That hits been hit below the belt 496 00:20:23,193 --> 00:20:26,658 and above and hit still hit the sack? 497 00:20:26,658 --> 00:20:29,568 Sometimes you can hit hit like a nail 498 00:20:29,568 --> 00:20:33,327 on the head and sometimes hit its back. 499 00:20:35,498 --> 00:20:37,997 And so I just want to say if you have 500 00:20:37,997 --> 00:20:39,558 any regional slang from where you're 501 00:20:39,558 --> 00:20:41,568 from and anyone tells you not to say, 502 00:20:41,568 --> 00:20:43,247 it doesn't bounce smart, you 503 00:20:43,247 --> 00:20:44,628 just say it right back to them. 504 00:20:44,628 --> 00:20:48,708 That's why I recommend this poem is. 505 00:20:48,708 --> 00:20:50,658 So again, Old English poetry lovers, 506 00:20:50,658 --> 00:20:51,797 if anybody ever read a poem 507 00:20:51,797 --> 00:20:53,567 called The Dream of the rude. 508 00:20:53,567 --> 00:20:55,142 Yeah. 509 00:20:55,142 --> 00:20:58,217 Okay, So this poem, It's crazy. 510 00:20:58,217 --> 00:21:01,847 In this poem, the cross of Christ 511 00:21:01,847 --> 00:21:04,262 begins to talk to this dude. 512 00:21:04,262 --> 00:21:05,748 That would freak me out. 513 00:21:05,748 --> 00:21:06,918 That happened to me. 514 00:21:06,918 --> 00:21:09,858 But this poem is fantastic and 515 00:21:09,858 --> 00:21:11,958 I was studying it 516 00:21:11,958 --> 00:21:14,402 and learning to translate it. 517 00:21:14,402 --> 00:21:17,042 And there's a phrase in the poem 518 00:21:17,042 --> 00:21:19,218 that translates to in 519 00:21:19,218 --> 00:21:21,948 modern English, all creation wept. 520 00:21:21,948 --> 00:21:24,003 And that really blew my mind. 521 00:21:24,003 --> 00:21:25,158 So I raise my hand. 522 00:21:25,158 --> 00:21:26,462 I'm like super nerd. 523 00:21:26,462 --> 00:21:28,232 I was just like my teacher. 524 00:21:28,232 --> 00:21:29,508 Like everything. 525 00:21:29,508 --> 00:21:31,893 Everything wept, all creation wet. 526 00:21:31,893 --> 00:21:33,498 She said yes, everything 527 00:21:33,498 --> 00:21:35,882 like even inanimate objects, 528 00:21:35,882 --> 00:21:38,568 like rocks, pieces of paper. 529 00:21:38,568 --> 00:21:40,532 She said yes, everything. 530 00:21:40,532 --> 00:21:42,542 So then I want to drive home. 531 00:21:42,542 --> 00:21:47,877 So that's this poem called all creation wept. 532 00:21:49,088 --> 00:21:51,887 All creation wept. 533 00:21:51,887 --> 00:21:55,608 And not just those disciples whom he loved. 534 00:21:55,608 --> 00:21:57,933 And not just his mother. 535 00:21:57,933 --> 00:22:01,053 For all creation was his mother. 536 00:22:01,053 --> 00:22:02,808 If he shared his cells with 537 00:22:02,808 --> 00:22:05,312 worms and ferns and Wales, 538 00:22:05,312 --> 00:22:08,927 felt spiderweb with the very walls of 539 00:22:08,927 --> 00:22:13,007 his crypt of all creation. 540 00:22:13,007 --> 00:22:14,852 Only he slept. 541 00:22:14,852 --> 00:22:18,377 The rest awake and wrapped with grief. 542 00:22:18,377 --> 00:22:20,238 When loves captain leaped onto 543 00:22:20,238 --> 00:22:22,757 the cross into an abyss, 544 00:22:22,757 --> 00:22:25,108 the weather hadn't drunk. 545 00:22:25,388 --> 00:22:30,723 Hero mine, the beloved, cried snowflakes. 546 00:22:30,723 --> 00:22:33,782 And cried the moons of unknown planets, 547 00:22:33,782 --> 00:22:36,513 cried at the thorns and his Garland. 548 00:22:36,513 --> 00:22:39,288 The nails bashed through his bones. 549 00:22:39,288 --> 00:22:41,388 The spikes of dry grass on 550 00:22:41,388 --> 00:22:43,338 the hillside dotted with 551 00:22:43,338 --> 00:22:45,738 water and with blood. 552 00:22:45,738 --> 00:22:49,187 Real tears and not a trick 553 00:22:49,187 --> 00:22:50,868 of rain light blinked 554 00:22:50,868 --> 00:22:53,058 and blurred onto a tree so 555 00:22:53,058 --> 00:22:56,297 that the tree seems wound in bold. 556 00:22:56,297 --> 00:23:00,468 It was not wound in gold or rain, 557 00:23:00,468 --> 00:23:02,958 been a rapture of salt. 558 00:23:02,958 --> 00:23:06,738 The wood splintering as he splintered when 559 00:23:06,738 --> 00:23:11,057 he whipped over Lazarus over Jerusalem. 560 00:23:11,057 --> 00:23:15,017 Until his sorrow became his action. 561 00:23:15,017 --> 00:23:18,257 His grief, his victory, 562 00:23:18,257 --> 00:23:23,447 until his tears became a rupture in nature. 563 00:23:23,447 --> 00:23:27,948 All creation disciples to his suffering. 564 00:23:27,948 --> 00:23:30,768 On the Gilded gallows tree. 565 00:23:30,768 --> 00:23:32,898 The wood which broke 566 00:23:32,898 --> 00:23:34,728 beneath the weight above. 567 00:23:34,728 --> 00:23:37,457 Though it had no ears to hear him cry 568 00:23:37,457 --> 00:23:41,277 out and no eyes to see. 569 00:23:44,498 --> 00:23:46,578 Already a couple more from this book 570 00:23:46,578 --> 00:23:48,347 and some new stuff. 571 00:23:48,347 --> 00:23:50,868 So I don't know, 572 00:23:50,868 --> 00:23:52,157 y'all, I feel like y'all are young. 573 00:23:52,157 --> 00:23:52,532 Right. 574 00:23:52,532 --> 00:23:54,838 But the only Mister to use 575 00:23:55,438 --> 00:23:57,908 because if you don't know Mr. T, 576 00:23:57,908 --> 00:23:58,657 If please go find out 577 00:23:58,657 --> 00:23:59,557 because Mr. T is amazing, 578 00:23:59,557 --> 00:24:03,142 but he wears historically anyway, 579 00:24:03,142 --> 00:24:04,703 all this gold jewelry. 580 00:24:04,703 --> 00:24:06,833 And when I think about 581 00:24:06,833 --> 00:24:09,218 this Bible and the Gospel book 582 00:24:09,218 --> 00:24:10,777 of out of the third from the 10th century. 583 00:24:10,777 --> 00:24:12,338 I think about Mr. T, because it has 584 00:24:12,338 --> 00:24:14,077 so much gold and you 585 00:24:14,077 --> 00:24:15,667 have to have gold leaf 586 00:24:15,667 --> 00:24:17,618 on a manuscript for it to be eliminated. 587 00:24:17,618 --> 00:24:19,792 But this one is really just over the top. 588 00:24:19,792 --> 00:24:23,197 So I was thinking a lot about being 589 00:24:23,197 --> 00:24:26,603 a monk who had taken about poverty. 590 00:24:26,603 --> 00:24:28,718 And then being asked to make 591 00:24:28,718 --> 00:24:31,088 this really ostentatious Bible 592 00:24:31,088 --> 00:24:33,158 for this rich due to ask you to, 593 00:24:33,158 --> 00:24:35,498 that this poem is called gold leaf and it's 594 00:24:35,498 --> 00:24:37,418 the OS will book, Gospel book of auto. 595 00:24:37,418 --> 00:24:40,828 The third gold leaf, 596 00:24:41,108 --> 00:24:44,477 shine spore from the velum, 597 00:24:44,477 --> 00:24:46,442 this film of sun. 598 00:24:46,442 --> 00:24:50,028 The precious metal pounded thick as air. 599 00:24:50,028 --> 00:24:52,323 The inbound to the page 600 00:24:52,323 --> 00:24:55,292 with just so or with glare. 601 00:24:55,292 --> 00:25:00,407 More than 100 leaves of gold from one bucket. 602 00:25:00,407 --> 00:25:02,628 Auto on 603 00:25:02,628 --> 00:25:05,238 the gold leaf throne which he commissioned. 604 00:25:05,238 --> 00:25:09,543 Servant of Christ, ruler of the world. 605 00:25:09,543 --> 00:25:12,333 Surveys has gilded Empire. 606 00:25:12,333 --> 00:25:16,857 And the hand of God adjusts his crown. 607 00:25:16,898 --> 00:25:20,792 Oh Christ, how I have loved you. 608 00:25:20,792 --> 00:25:23,417 With my heart shuts like 609 00:25:23,417 --> 00:25:26,823 an Emperor's fist or a golden door. 610 00:25:26,823 --> 00:25:31,112 A Bible with its pages locked up tight. 611 00:25:31,112 --> 00:25:33,738 And my poverty, I 612 00:25:33,738 --> 00:25:36,333 thought a poor God to adore, 613 00:25:36,333 --> 00:25:40,683 love I could buy with my widow's mite. 614 00:25:40,683 --> 00:25:44,788 But this is not a Bible that the poor. 615 00:25:49,238 --> 00:25:51,618 So if anybody has ever made 616 00:25:51,618 --> 00:25:54,033 fun of your accent, this poem is for you. 617 00:25:54,033 --> 00:25:56,433 So I don't know. 618 00:25:56,433 --> 00:25:57,168 I mean, I never really 619 00:25:57,168 --> 00:25:57,947 thought about the way I 620 00:25:57,947 --> 00:26:00,317 talked until I left where I'm from. 621 00:26:00,317 --> 00:26:01,398 And then everyone started 622 00:26:01,398 --> 00:26:02,777 talking to me about it. 623 00:26:02,777 --> 00:26:05,027 I do like, Oh, okay. 624 00:26:05,027 --> 00:26:07,112 Thanks. Interesting. 625 00:26:07,112 --> 00:26:09,932 So after about, you know, 626 00:26:09,932 --> 00:26:11,237 I don't know about 20 years 627 00:26:11,237 --> 00:26:12,917 of just being made fun of. 628 00:26:12,917 --> 00:26:14,868 I just got really angry and wrote 629 00:26:14,868 --> 00:26:16,518 Avila nil and yaw. 630 00:26:16,518 --> 00:26:18,333 Like, I know it is hilarious. 631 00:26:18,333 --> 00:26:20,013 Form with repeating lines. 632 00:26:20,013 --> 00:26:21,468 It seems like a very stuffy thing, 633 00:26:21,468 --> 00:26:24,257 but it seems like when I get really angry, 634 00:26:24,257 --> 00:26:25,878 I write a bill and know about it. 635 00:26:25,878 --> 00:26:27,437 So I'm just saying like, 636 00:26:27,437 --> 00:26:29,327 don't discount traditional forms 637 00:26:29,327 --> 00:26:30,887 because you just never know. 638 00:26:30,887 --> 00:26:34,758 This poem references kind of rift 639 00:26:34,758 --> 00:26:36,978 on the end of the novel, 640 00:26:36,978 --> 00:26:39,392 Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner. 641 00:26:39,392 --> 00:26:41,028 There's a little bit at the end 642 00:26:41,028 --> 00:26:42,348 where the main character 643 00:26:42,348 --> 00:26:43,398 Quintin constant is from 644 00:26:43,398 --> 00:26:45,693 Mississippi and his roommate 645 00:26:45,693 --> 00:26:47,522 Shreve is from the North. 646 00:26:47,522 --> 00:26:48,888 And at the very end after 647 00:26:48,888 --> 00:26:49,937 this long novel were 648 00:26:49,937 --> 00:26:51,557 all kinds of crazy stuff happens. 649 00:26:51,557 --> 00:26:55,022 Shreve says, Quinn, okay, tell me one thing. 650 00:26:55,022 --> 00:26:56,703 Why do you hate the South? And Clinton says, 651 00:26:56,703 --> 00:26:58,232 I don't hate this out, I don't hate it. 652 00:26:58,232 --> 00:27:00,753 That's the crazy book. 653 00:27:00,753 --> 00:27:02,792 So I wanted to point out 654 00:27:02,792 --> 00:27:05,818 that this is called regionalism. 655 00:27:06,218 --> 00:27:08,808 People mock the South wherever 656 00:27:08,808 --> 00:27:10,727 I pass through it. 657 00:27:10,727 --> 00:27:11,957 So racist. 658 00:27:11,957 --> 00:27:16,398 So backward though nascar, I don't hate it. 659 00:27:16,398 --> 00:27:18,107 But they all do. 660 00:27:18,107 --> 00:27:22,653 As if they themselves marched out in blue. 661 00:27:22,653 --> 00:27:24,348 There's still us Deming 662 00:27:24,348 --> 00:27:26,282 it about the Civil War, 663 00:27:26,282 --> 00:27:29,177 mocking the South, wherever it is. 664 00:27:29,177 --> 00:27:31,413 They've never pass through. 665 00:27:31,413 --> 00:27:34,488 It's a formless, humid place with 666 00:27:34,488 --> 00:27:37,353 bad food except for barbecue. 667 00:27:37,353 --> 00:27:40,052 The grids flipped boiled peanuts, 668 00:27:40,052 --> 00:27:42,392 sweet tea tickets, tar. 669 00:27:42,392 --> 00:27:44,898 I don't hate it, but they all do that. 670 00:27:44,898 --> 00:27:46,637 They love Otis Redding, 671 00:27:46,637 --> 00:27:50,222 Johnny Cash, the B52 is the rest of it. 672 00:27:50,222 --> 00:27:52,547 Can go ahead and char. 673 00:27:52,547 --> 00:27:55,127 People mocked my southern mouth 674 00:27:55,127 --> 00:27:56,778 wherever I pass through. 675 00:27:56,778 --> 00:27:59,702 My Every might, could have and fixed into 676 00:27:59,702 --> 00:28:04,233 my flattened vowels that make fire too far. 677 00:28:04,233 --> 00:28:07,998 I don't hate how I talk, where I'm from, 678 00:28:07,998 --> 00:28:10,998 but they all do their best to make me if 679 00:28:10,998 --> 00:28:13,458 their last Yahoo and I got hearing 680 00:28:13,458 --> 00:28:17,178 world of smear, slur and more. 681 00:28:17,178 --> 00:28:19,548 People mocked the South. 682 00:28:19,548 --> 00:28:21,063 It's past. 683 00:28:21,063 --> 00:28:23,837 They're never through. I'm damned 684 00:28:23,837 --> 00:28:25,008 if I don't hate it and 685 00:28:25,008 --> 00:28:29,788 damned if I do. I'm a reducing neutrons. 686 00:28:30,608 --> 00:28:35,387 So what I've been working 687 00:28:35,387 --> 00:28:39,978 on for a while now is third book, 688 00:28:39,978 --> 00:28:41,567 which is about the 689 00:28:41,567 --> 00:28:43,548 abolitionist movement in the United States. 690 00:28:43,548 --> 00:28:45,842 So it's a historical collection. 691 00:28:45,842 --> 00:28:48,663 So the abolitionist movement 692 00:28:48,663 --> 00:28:51,618 really kinda caught fire in the 19th century. 693 00:28:51,618 --> 00:28:53,658 But it was around basically, 694 00:28:53,658 --> 00:28:57,902 as soon as the first enslaved people 695 00:28:57,902 --> 00:29:01,037 were brought to this continent, 696 00:29:01,037 --> 00:29:02,417 they were resisting and 697 00:29:02,417 --> 00:29:03,557 they were finding ways to 698 00:29:03,557 --> 00:29:06,243 liberate themselves from enslavement. 699 00:29:06,243 --> 00:29:09,962 So I'm kind of looking at kind of a snapshot 700 00:29:09,962 --> 00:29:12,017 of the movement as a movement 701 00:29:12,017 --> 00:29:14,327 where a lot of different people, 702 00:29:14,327 --> 00:29:16,668 black and white and Midwestern 703 00:29:16,668 --> 00:29:18,917 and Northern and Southern and men and women. 704 00:29:18,917 --> 00:29:20,493 And they're all kind of working together, 705 00:29:20,493 --> 00:29:22,758 trying all these different strategies of 706 00:29:22,758 --> 00:29:25,803 activism to end enslavement. 707 00:29:25,803 --> 00:29:28,862 And so in writing this book, 708 00:29:28,862 --> 00:29:31,757 I've done a lot of archival research, 709 00:29:31,757 --> 00:29:34,067 particularly 19th century newspapers, 710 00:29:34,067 --> 00:29:35,958 which are super interesting to me. 711 00:29:35,958 --> 00:29:39,543 And if you think about the ways that 712 00:29:39,543 --> 00:29:43,188 we use the Internet in our activism now, 713 00:29:43,188 --> 00:29:46,127 that is how they use newspapers back then. 714 00:29:46,127 --> 00:29:49,428 So it's really important to kind of spread, 715 00:29:49,428 --> 00:29:50,507 spread the word about what 716 00:29:50,507 --> 00:29:52,472 the next action was going to be. 717 00:29:52,472 --> 00:29:53,987 A few little things 718 00:29:53,987 --> 00:29:56,553 and I'm just going to read 719 00:29:56,553 --> 00:29:58,938 a few poems from 720 00:29:58,938 --> 00:29:59,718 the book I've been 721 00:29:59,718 --> 00:30:00,617 working on for a long time. 722 00:30:00,617 --> 00:30:01,337 She's getting kind of long, 723 00:30:01,337 --> 00:30:02,627 but I'm not done with it yet. 724 00:30:02,627 --> 00:30:06,272 But I have in the book, crown of sonnets, 725 00:30:06,272 --> 00:30:09,258 it's so lucky you write a sonnet 726 00:30:09,258 --> 00:30:10,607 and then the last line of one 727 00:30:10,607 --> 00:30:12,633 becomes the first line of the next one. 728 00:30:12,633 --> 00:30:15,752 So I'm going to read five or six of those. 729 00:30:15,752 --> 00:30:16,817 And then a couple of 730 00:30:16,817 --> 00:30:18,047 poems that aren't related to this. 731 00:30:18,047 --> 00:30:20,028 And then we'll be, we'll be good to go. 732 00:30:20,028 --> 00:30:21,708 And we can do some questions. 733 00:30:21,708 --> 00:30:23,433 A couple of things. 734 00:30:23,433 --> 00:30:25,547 If, if the language sounds 735 00:30:25,547 --> 00:30:27,617 like it's from the 19th century, 736 00:30:27,617 --> 00:30:29,177 it probably is because 737 00:30:29,177 --> 00:30:30,408 of one thing I'm trying to do is 738 00:30:30,408 --> 00:30:32,447 work the language of 739 00:30:32,447 --> 00:30:33,588 the archive into 740 00:30:33,588 --> 00:30:35,597 the poems that you suddenly being, 741 00:30:35,597 --> 00:30:37,337 if you like that sound, they'll pass on. 742 00:30:37,337 --> 00:30:39,537 It's probably from the archive. 743 00:30:39,958 --> 00:30:42,457 One more thing. 744 00:30:42,457 --> 00:30:44,167 There's something I reference 745 00:30:44,167 --> 00:30:44,902 in this poem called a 746 00:30:44,902 --> 00:30:48,097 printer speced printers fifth, 747 00:30:48,097 --> 00:30:51,082 if this is like a pointing finger, 748 00:30:51,082 --> 00:30:52,957 if you've ever seen an old newspaper 749 00:30:52,957 --> 00:30:54,067 or magazine that has like 750 00:30:54,067 --> 00:30:55,627 a finger pointing to 751 00:30:55,627 --> 00:30:56,888 something in the newspaper. 752 00:30:56,888 --> 00:30:58,147 It's like, Hey, read, this is really 753 00:30:58,147 --> 00:31:00,337 important. Though. 754 00:31:00,337 --> 00:31:01,718 That's what that phrases. 755 00:31:01,718 --> 00:31:02,767 And each of the sun, 756 00:31:02,767 --> 00:31:04,268 it has a different title. 757 00:31:04,268 --> 00:31:06,037 So if there's anything you need to know, 758 00:31:06,037 --> 00:31:08,258 I'll tell you about it when I read the title. 759 00:31:08,258 --> 00:31:12,008 This is called William Lloyd Garrison, 760 00:31:12,008 --> 00:31:14,438 apprentices as a printer's devil 761 00:31:14,438 --> 00:31:18,527 at the Newberry port Harold, 1818. 762 00:31:18,838 --> 00:31:22,763 Boy wanted where the herald 763 00:31:22,763 --> 00:31:26,782 stoke fires to sweep floors, 764 00:31:26,782 --> 00:31:30,007 to stir the oily ink kettles as 765 00:31:30,007 --> 00:31:31,237 if a 100 soot and 766 00:31:31,237 --> 00:31:33,607 varnish devils were upon him. 767 00:31:33,607 --> 00:31:37,313 Well, I wanted indentures only. 768 00:31:37,313 --> 00:31:40,777 Should be 13 and desperate. 769 00:31:40,777 --> 00:31:42,533 No room for him at home. 770 00:31:42,533 --> 00:31:45,247 His mother pious, but consumptive. 771 00:31:45,247 --> 00:31:48,233 His father dead from drink. 772 00:31:48,233 --> 00:31:51,112 Should not be late. 773 00:31:51,112 --> 00:31:53,723 Boy needed, who is quick 774 00:31:53,723 --> 00:31:55,717 to sort a case of type two 775 00:31:55,717 --> 00:31:57,098 sets his tongue with 776 00:31:57,098 --> 00:32:00,457 every click of lead in the composing stick. 777 00:32:00,457 --> 00:32:02,272 Preferred. 778 00:32:02,272 --> 00:32:05,888 The Gospels burning in his face. 779 00:32:05,888 --> 00:32:08,138 Boy wanted who can 780 00:32:08,138 --> 00:32:10,297 learn how paper can be pressed? 781 00:32:10,297 --> 00:32:12,848 How an empty hand can make a printer. 782 00:32:12,848 --> 00:32:18,458 Just this poem at reference. 783 00:32:18,458 --> 00:32:19,853 If a black abolitionist named 784 00:32:19,853 --> 00:32:22,148 David Walker and his pamphlet, 785 00:32:22,148 --> 00:32:23,227 which is called appeal to the 786 00:32:23,227 --> 00:32:25,758 colored citizens of the world. 787 00:32:25,978 --> 00:32:28,507 David Walker's appeal to 788 00:32:28,507 --> 00:32:29,918 the colored citizens of the world 789 00:32:29,918 --> 00:32:33,227 go south, 1829. 790 00:32:33,448 --> 00:32:35,738 An empty hand can 791 00:32:35,738 --> 00:32:37,448 make a printer speced to points 792 00:32:37,448 --> 00:32:40,973 due South where Walker sent his pamphlets. 793 00:32:40,973 --> 00:32:42,848 Here, six, there a 794 00:32:42,848 --> 00:32:46,088 $0.112 or free to 795 00:32:46,088 --> 00:32:48,488 anyone who couldn't pay the cost. 796 00:32:48,488 --> 00:32:51,547 Sailors, mailmen, bar Keeps, 797 00:32:51,547 --> 00:32:52,808 and runaways past, 798 00:32:52,808 --> 00:32:54,998 detracts from hand to hand. 799 00:32:54,998 --> 00:32:59,257 The call repent and the call to fight in 800 00:32:59,257 --> 00:33:01,447 tiny print fanning along 801 00:33:01,447 --> 00:33:04,627 the coasts in inching west. 802 00:33:04,627 --> 00:33:09,743 God will hurl tyrants into atoms. 803 00:33:09,743 --> 00:33:12,142 The god of battles. 804 00:33:12,142 --> 00:33:14,348 It said, we will 805 00:33:14,348 --> 00:33:15,668 route them out from 806 00:33:15,668 --> 00:33:17,318 the very face of the earth. 807 00:33:17,318 --> 00:33:20,078 Ought not to be destroyed, 808 00:33:20,078 --> 00:33:23,797 read aloud, or confiscated and burned. 809 00:33:23,797 --> 00:33:27,038 The paper hist, or their ears to hear. 810 00:33:27,038 --> 00:33:30,407 Brethren, will you enlist? 811 00:33:32,668 --> 00:33:34,717 This poem that references a 812 00:33:34,717 --> 00:33:36,158 newspaper called The Liberator, 813 00:33:36,158 --> 00:33:37,147 which was the kind 814 00:33:37,147 --> 00:33:39,618 of main abolitionist newspaper. 815 00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:42,518 The year Garrison issued 816 00:33:42,518 --> 00:33:45,773 the call and liberate or 18, 31. 817 00:33:45,773 --> 00:33:50,618 I will be heard. He wrote, he wrote enlist. 818 00:33:50,618 --> 00:33:52,103 In Virginia. 819 00:33:52,103 --> 00:33:55,148 Nat Turner waited in the corn. 820 00:33:55,148 --> 00:33:59,513 In Philadelphia. Sarah Fortune wrote a poem. 821 00:33:59,513 --> 00:34:01,027 In New York. 822 00:34:01,027 --> 00:34:04,223 David Ruggles crossed free produce sugar 823 00:34:04,223 --> 00:34:08,153 off his stockists list. In Ohio. 824 00:34:08,153 --> 00:34:11,527 John Rankin, hang a lantern in Boston, 825 00:34:11,527 --> 00:34:13,358 and Mariah Stuart approached 826 00:34:13,358 --> 00:34:15,527 the lectern in Indiana. 827 00:34:15,527 --> 00:34:16,772 Catherine coffin 828 00:34:16,772 --> 00:34:19,322 cooked breakfast for fugitives. 829 00:34:19,322 --> 00:34:23,343 In Baltimore, in Michigan, in Connecticut. 830 00:34:23,343 --> 00:34:26,343 They were waiting for the call. 831 00:34:26,343 --> 00:34:30,452 In Delaware, in DC at Niagara Falls, 832 00:34:30,452 --> 00:34:32,148 at the countries fringe, 833 00:34:32,148 --> 00:34:34,533 we're at its hinge began. 834 00:34:34,533 --> 00:34:37,788 They heard and kept doing or 835 00:34:37,788 --> 00:34:42,108 heard and did more with him without funding, 836 00:34:42,108 --> 00:34:44,758 with them without fear. 837 00:34:46,838 --> 00:34:49,218 The Philadelphia Female 838 00:34:49,218 --> 00:34:51,213 Anti-Slavery Society starts 839 00:34:51,213 --> 00:34:56,668 its third annual petition drive, 18, 36. 840 00:34:56,978 --> 00:34:59,522 With or without funding, 841 00:34:59,522 --> 00:35:01,367 with or without fear. 842 00:35:01,367 --> 00:35:03,302 You who have pins, 843 00:35:03,302 --> 00:35:04,608 prepare to use them. 844 00:35:04,608 --> 00:35:07,338 Now, we're going to need all of 845 00:35:07,338 --> 00:35:08,687 you to go house to 846 00:35:08,687 --> 00:35:11,538 house to collect signatures. 847 00:35:11,538 --> 00:35:14,073 We've been called impertinent 848 00:35:14,073 --> 00:35:15,947 peddlers, incarnates, 849 00:35:15,947 --> 00:35:18,467 devils, and that is 850 00:35:18,467 --> 00:35:21,632 how we know our petitions are at work. 851 00:35:21,632 --> 00:35:27,213 No names are chief you a name is a truth. 852 00:35:27,213 --> 00:35:29,117 Sometimes like a hammer, 853 00:35:29,117 --> 00:35:31,383 sometimes like a fire. 854 00:35:31,383 --> 00:35:34,008 A name is a voice. 855 00:35:34,008 --> 00:35:36,107 We must do with our mite, 856 00:35:36,107 --> 00:35:37,187 what our hands spine 857 00:35:37,187 --> 00:35:38,883 for our sisters deliverance. 858 00:35:38,883 --> 00:35:40,893 We are bound with them. 859 00:35:40,893 --> 00:35:44,432 Remember their bonds. It's not a choice. 860 00:35:44,432 --> 00:35:48,993 Now, who is ready to knock on her door? 861 00:35:48,993 --> 00:35:50,717 Who is ready to be 862 00:35:50,717 --> 00:35:54,357 Christ agitator, Christ martyr. 863 00:35:56,258 --> 00:35:59,387 The Reverend Elijah Lovejoy, 864 00:35:59,387 --> 00:36:01,127 editor of the ulna observer, 865 00:36:01,127 --> 00:36:03,603 died at the hands of a pro-slavery mob. 866 00:36:03,603 --> 00:36:06,808 Alton, illinois, a 137 867 00:36:07,028 --> 00:36:11,522 cross editor, becomes cry smarter. 868 00:36:11,522 --> 00:36:13,788 Band. The newspaper columns 869 00:36:13,788 --> 00:36:17,432 black for Elijah Lovejoy who fired back. 870 00:36:17,432 --> 00:36:19,788 They threw his first three 871 00:36:19,788 --> 00:36:22,098 presses into the river. 872 00:36:22,098 --> 00:36:24,197 They came with guns, 873 00:36:24,197 --> 00:36:27,212 stones, Hatchett hammers. 874 00:36:27,212 --> 00:36:29,642 They came with whiskey and a mind 875 00:36:29,642 --> 00:36:32,013 to attack something as they felt attacked, 876 00:36:32,013 --> 00:36:34,113 to break Lovejoy's words 877 00:36:34,113 --> 00:36:36,318 before they got to paper. 878 00:36:36,318 --> 00:36:39,107 No one was arrested. 879 00:36:39,107 --> 00:36:41,627 It wasn't a riot. 880 00:36:41,627 --> 00:36:44,688 At the wharf. The smashed up pieces 881 00:36:44,688 --> 00:36:46,547 of his fourth press. 882 00:36:46,547 --> 00:36:48,438 Although he signed his letters 883 00:36:48,438 --> 00:36:50,133 till death or victory, 884 00:36:50,133 --> 00:36:51,948 the movement hadn't thought it 885 00:36:51,948 --> 00:36:54,047 could happen to a journalist. 886 00:36:54,047 --> 00:36:57,177 Somebody had to be the first. 887 00:37:00,368 --> 00:37:02,913 The Grimke sisters at work. 888 00:37:02,913 --> 00:37:05,238 Theodore Dwight welds, American 889 00:37:05,238 --> 00:37:08,728 slavery as it is, 1838. 890 00:37:08,948 --> 00:37:12,467 Somebody had to be the first to 891 00:37:12,467 --> 00:37:16,247 amass the proof from slave holders mouth. 892 00:37:16,247 --> 00:37:19,697 20 thousand newspapers from 893 00:37:19,697 --> 00:37:22,577 the South began thinking testimony 894 00:37:22,577 --> 00:37:25,308 parsed scissors carefully 895 00:37:25,308 --> 00:37:28,608 into strips. Lips pursed. 896 00:37:28,608 --> 00:37:30,587 The sisters cut out words as 897 00:37:30,587 --> 00:37:32,673 if words were cloth for dresses. 898 00:37:32,673 --> 00:37:35,253 Their fingers dark with the newsprint. 899 00:37:35,253 --> 00:37:36,948 Truth though it was not 900 00:37:36,948 --> 00:37:40,068 half the truth or the worst. 901 00:37:40,068 --> 00:37:42,588 I burn her with a hot iron, 902 00:37:42,588 --> 00:37:45,092 has one ear slit, 903 00:37:45,092 --> 00:37:48,557 ran away, has two or three scars 904 00:37:48,557 --> 00:37:50,297 made by a knife. 905 00:37:50,297 --> 00:37:52,892 Has no toes on his left foot, 906 00:37:52,892 --> 00:37:55,682 has buckshot and his cast. 907 00:37:55,682 --> 00:37:57,843 The scissors listening. 908 00:37:57,843 --> 00:37:59,358 I have seen it. 909 00:37:59,358 --> 00:38:04,053 I have seen it. Their path from Charleston, 910 00:38:04,053 --> 00:38:07,067 the path the scissors traversed. 911 00:38:07,067 --> 00:38:09,168 Let it be accursed. 912 00:38:09,168 --> 00:38:11,608 Let him be accursed. 913 00:38:12,218 --> 00:38:14,028 And it goes on from there, 914 00:38:14,028 --> 00:38:16,487 but we don't have time for all this. 915 00:38:16,487 --> 00:38:18,753 And let me do one more poem. 916 00:38:18,753 --> 00:38:21,678 I was telling Gabriel 917 00:38:21,678 --> 00:38:23,658 that when he was interviewing me, 918 00:38:23,658 --> 00:38:25,397 that when I get stuck working on 919 00:38:25,397 --> 00:38:27,708 one project that I just kind 920 00:38:27,708 --> 00:38:28,457 of have to start writing 921 00:38:28,457 --> 00:38:29,357 about something else that's 922 00:38:29,357 --> 00:38:32,192 unrelated until I can see my way back to it. 923 00:38:32,192 --> 00:38:34,997 So I really kinda couldn't finish 924 00:38:34,997 --> 00:38:36,228 scriptorium until I started 925 00:38:36,228 --> 00:38:37,757 writing poems about abolitionists. 926 00:38:37,757 --> 00:38:38,867 And now that I'm stuck on 927 00:38:38,867 --> 00:38:39,932 the abolitionists little bit, 928 00:38:39,932 --> 00:38:41,657 I started Brian points about birds. 929 00:38:41,657 --> 00:38:43,473 I think that's also a COVID thing. 930 00:38:43,473 --> 00:38:45,527 You know, we're inside the beginning. 931 00:38:45,527 --> 00:38:46,458 The panda immigrants thought 932 00:38:46,458 --> 00:38:48,393 a lot looking at birds. 933 00:38:48,393 --> 00:38:50,927 I was thinking about, there's 934 00:38:50,927 --> 00:38:52,278 always some birds thinking something 935 00:38:52,278 --> 00:38:53,327 beautiful and I can't find 936 00:38:53,327 --> 00:38:58,548 the bird into that poem is for that bird. 937 00:38:58,548 --> 00:39:00,617 The title goes right into the poem. 938 00:39:00,617 --> 00:39:02,162 And thank you all so much for coming out. 939 00:39:02,162 --> 00:39:03,228 And I think we'll have time 940 00:39:03,228 --> 00:39:05,308 for some questions afterward. 941 00:39:05,408 --> 00:39:07,652 To be the bird. 942 00:39:07,652 --> 00:39:09,643 No one notices. 943 00:39:09,643 --> 00:39:15,427 A delight to be on photographed on remarked. 944 00:39:15,427 --> 00:39:18,517 A twitch in the leaves, dirt, 945 00:39:18,517 --> 00:39:20,377 sparrow mulch, Tufte, 946 00:39:20,377 --> 00:39:24,818 ID to be no reason to polish binoculars. 947 00:39:24,818 --> 00:39:26,978 To be the lady finch 948 00:39:26,978 --> 00:39:30,053 encrusted by gold or purple, 949 00:39:30,053 --> 00:39:34,013 or to be an equality of Robin's their eggs. 950 00:39:34,013 --> 00:39:36,547 The brightest things about them, 951 00:39:36,547 --> 00:39:38,948 to be the liquid trill. 952 00:39:38,948 --> 00:39:42,817 None can pinpoint bird unseen. 953 00:39:42,817 --> 00:39:45,608 To be a privacy of 954 00:39:45,608 --> 00:39:49,672 drab in an embarrassment of preen. 955 00:39:49,672 --> 00:39:51,617 Thank you. 956 00:39:58,858 --> 00:40:03,998 Does anybody have any questions for the poet? 957 00:40:03,998 --> 00:40:06,337 And I'll be happy to repeat the questions for 958 00:40:06,337 --> 00:40:09,982 the broadcaster or come up, oh yeah. 959 00:40:09,982 --> 00:40:12,743 There'll be stuff that we're on camera. 960 00:40:12,743 --> 00:40:17,027 Any questions of any sort? 961 00:40:21,388 --> 00:40:22,627 Yeah. 962 00:40:22,627 --> 00:40:24,607 I don't know. 963 00:40:24,607 --> 00:40:27,882 Not done with it. Yeah. Take me a long time. 964 00:40:27,882 --> 00:40:29,288 It takes me 10 or 11 years 965 00:40:29,288 --> 00:40:30,067 usually to write a book. 966 00:40:30,067 --> 00:40:31,868 So I'm on about your nine. 967 00:40:31,868 --> 00:40:34,147 So give me a couple more years. 968 00:40:34,147 --> 00:40:35,868 Hopefully. This one's a 969 00:40:35,868 --> 00:40:37,518 lot longer and if a lot, 970 00:40:37,518 --> 00:40:39,872 it's so research intensive. 971 00:40:39,872 --> 00:40:41,507 And these people were so 972 00:40:41,507 --> 00:40:42,288 amazing and I don't know 973 00:40:42,288 --> 00:40:43,623 about you all but I didn't, 974 00:40:43,623 --> 00:40:45,543 I didn't learn about abolitionism 975 00:40:45,543 --> 00:40:47,342 in school, you know, 976 00:40:47,342 --> 00:40:48,947 and, and I really 977 00:40:48,947 --> 00:40:51,868 want to take the time to get it right. 978 00:40:55,508 --> 00:41:00,417 Yeah. Yeah. 979 00:41:05,168 --> 00:41:07,247 Yeah. That's good. Question. 980 00:41:07,247 --> 00:41:08,627 Well, I really like on 981 00:41:08,627 --> 00:41:09,888 its isoform that I've 982 00:41:09,888 --> 00:41:11,643 always really loved and I, 983 00:41:11,643 --> 00:41:13,577 okay, if I have a wonderful friend 984 00:41:13,577 --> 00:41:14,928 named John Mario, 985 00:41:14,928 --> 00:41:16,277 you should read his work. 986 00:41:16,277 --> 00:41:17,463 He has two books, 987 00:41:17,463 --> 00:41:19,008 Contemporary American Poetry, 988 00:41:19,008 --> 00:41:20,193 which is hilarious title. 989 00:41:20,193 --> 00:41:21,767 And one is called a jump 990 00:41:21,767 --> 00:41:23,432 boogie, the fantastic poet. 991 00:41:23,432 --> 00:41:25,428 And we were on 992 00:41:25,428 --> 00:41:27,243 fellowship together a long time ago, 993 00:41:27,243 --> 00:41:29,763 only like 13 or 14 years ago. 994 00:41:29,763 --> 00:41:30,468 And we both were 995 00:41:30,468 --> 00:41:31,428 talking about how much we like 996 00:41:31,428 --> 00:41:33,137 sonnet then he's that ranger enough. 997 00:41:33,137 --> 00:41:34,698 My nickname. He's like Grainger. 998 00:41:34,698 --> 00:41:35,957 Let's write a crown. I was like, 999 00:41:35,957 --> 00:41:37,398 okay, we're going to write a crown. 1000 00:41:37,398 --> 00:41:39,602 He rocketed crime, published it first though. 1001 00:41:39,602 --> 00:41:41,118 It's amazing. You gotta read it. 1002 00:41:41,118 --> 00:41:42,768 He said, right, John Maria, That's it. 1003 00:41:42,768 --> 00:41:44,297 For now if my Turner I'm on. 1004 00:41:44,297 --> 00:41:45,318 And so part of it is just 1005 00:41:45,318 --> 00:41:47,508 like a fellow friends, 1006 00:41:47,508 --> 00:41:48,528 you love sonnets and we 1007 00:41:48,528 --> 00:41:49,608 promised each other we would do it. 1008 00:41:49,608 --> 00:41:50,412 But I'll say I, 1009 00:41:50,412 --> 00:41:51,452 I did all I don't wanna do it. 1010 00:41:51,452 --> 00:41:53,118 So I'm working on it. 1011 00:41:53,118 --> 00:41:55,408 It's getting there. Almost there. 1012 00:42:00,418 --> 00:42:03,832 Oh no, no, no, no, no. 1013 00:42:03,832 --> 00:42:06,533 The crowd of sciences like 15 pounds. 1014 00:42:06,533 --> 00:42:08,992 And they're really kind of working with, 1015 00:42:08,992 --> 00:42:11,242 especially with the idea of print culture 1016 00:42:11,242 --> 00:42:12,622 in the 19th century, 1017 00:42:12,622 --> 00:42:13,868 particularly with newspapers and 1018 00:42:13,868 --> 00:42:15,233 pamphlets and stuff like that. 1019 00:42:15,233 --> 00:42:16,418 And like him, nulls 1020 00:42:16,418 --> 00:42:18,187 and all kinds of crazy stuff. 1021 00:42:18,187 --> 00:42:21,188 And then other poems kind of fill that 1022 00:42:21,188 --> 00:42:24,907 in because I thought it was great. 1023 00:42:24,907 --> 00:42:27,113 But to me that's kinda the heart of the book. 1024 00:42:27,113 --> 00:42:28,542 Apparently sonnets are the harder 1025 00:42:28,542 --> 00:42:30,683 the book always for me I really like them. 1026 00:42:30,683 --> 00:42:32,348 But then I wanted to play 1027 00:42:32,348 --> 00:42:33,607 with other forums and to think 1028 00:42:33,607 --> 00:42:34,838 about other voices and think what I could 1029 00:42:34,838 --> 00:42:36,427 do with a really long poem, 1030 00:42:36,427 --> 00:42:37,868 wisdom, really short poems, 1031 00:42:37,868 --> 00:42:38,947 or maybe eight lines long 1032 00:42:38,947 --> 00:42:41,207 and try a lot of different stuff. 1033 00:42:49,438 --> 00:42:52,267 Ooh, that's a good question. 1034 00:42:52,267 --> 00:42:53,227 So the question was, 1035 00:42:53,227 --> 00:42:54,128 what is your favorite part 1036 00:42:54,128 --> 00:42:55,057 of your writing process? 1037 00:42:55,057 --> 00:42:58,747 And it depends on the kind of hone. 1038 00:42:58,747 --> 00:43:00,982 For historical poem. 1039 00:43:00,982 --> 00:43:02,917 I really liked the research part. 1040 00:43:02,917 --> 00:43:04,447 I really like reading and 1041 00:43:04,447 --> 00:43:06,098 coming through and kind of 1042 00:43:06,098 --> 00:43:07,988 looking for interesting bits of language or 1043 00:43:07,988 --> 00:43:10,762 words or I have a joke that it's like, 1044 00:43:10,762 --> 00:43:14,618 I need to read like a 600 page biography and 1045 00:43:14,618 --> 00:43:16,057 a whole bunch of newspaper articles from 1046 00:43:16,057 --> 00:43:17,377 the 19th century and ruined 1047 00:43:17,377 --> 00:43:18,892 my eyes looking at them online. 1048 00:43:18,892 --> 00:43:20,813 And then maybe I can write on it. 1049 00:43:20,813 --> 00:43:22,237 I mean, yeah, because I really want 1050 00:43:22,237 --> 00:43:23,348 to I feel like I'm in 1051 00:43:23,348 --> 00:43:26,068 there like in with the historical details. 1052 00:43:26,068 --> 00:43:28,127 So I really like that part, but I also, 1053 00:43:28,127 --> 00:43:29,943 I love the way that word sound together. 1054 00:43:29,943 --> 00:43:31,728 So a lot of times 1055 00:43:31,728 --> 00:43:34,367 I'll come up with a liner little phrase. 1056 00:43:34,367 --> 00:43:36,197 And then they'll think, 1057 00:43:36,197 --> 00:43:37,487 Well this word sounds good with that. 1058 00:43:37,487 --> 00:43:38,747 And then my imagination, what kind of 1059 00:43:38,747 --> 00:43:40,218 go there? But it depends. 1060 00:43:40,218 --> 00:43:42,947 Every poem is different. And I'm 1061 00:43:42,947 --> 00:43:44,867 sure it is for y'all, all of Yahoo, right? 1062 00:43:44,867 --> 00:43:46,232 Whether it's poetry or something else, 1063 00:43:46,232 --> 00:43:49,167 every piece can begin in a different way. 1064 00:43:53,708 --> 00:43:59,607 Any other questions for poets? Yeah. 1065 00:43:59,768 --> 00:44:02,037 Yeah. 1066 00:44:14,348 --> 00:44:16,788 I mean, that's also a great question. 1067 00:44:16,788 --> 00:44:18,437 It just depends. So a lot 1068 00:44:18,437 --> 00:44:20,102 of times I'm writing by hand. 1069 00:44:20,102 --> 00:44:22,848 So now if I'm just saving many, 1070 00:44:22,848 --> 00:44:25,427 many kind of like downloaded and newspaper 1071 00:44:25,427 --> 00:44:27,317 PDFs from my database, 1072 00:44:27,317 --> 00:44:28,848 America's historical newspapers. 1073 00:44:28,848 --> 00:44:30,377 It's amazing. Thank you. 1074 00:44:30,377 --> 00:44:30,707 Thank you. 1075 00:44:30,707 --> 00:44:32,163 America's historical newspaper. 1076 00:44:32,163 --> 00:44:34,128 And that's another I'll be doing that. 1077 00:44:34,128 --> 00:44:36,033 Sometimes I'm typing up notes. 1078 00:44:36,033 --> 00:44:38,163 Sometimes. Now I've tried. 1079 00:44:38,163 --> 00:44:39,782 Usually what I do is I, 1080 00:44:39,782 --> 00:44:41,178 you know, whatever I'm 1081 00:44:41,178 --> 00:44:42,723 quoting from the source, 1082 00:44:42,723 --> 00:44:44,642 I'll kinda like in my draft of the poem, 1083 00:44:44,642 --> 00:44:46,712 I'll just kinda put the notes from 1084 00:44:46,712 --> 00:44:47,598 the quotes and where 1085 00:44:47,598 --> 00:44:49,278 they're from underneath it. 1086 00:44:49,278 --> 00:44:51,197 Because I've learned when I started the book, 1087 00:44:51,197 --> 00:44:52,217 I wasn't doing that. 1088 00:44:52,217 --> 00:44:54,108 And the early poems I was like, 1089 00:44:54,108 --> 00:44:56,237 Where did I give you permission? 1090 00:44:56,237 --> 00:44:57,437 I actually don't know. 1091 00:44:57,437 --> 00:44:58,878 So luckily, I only did that for 1092 00:44:58,878 --> 00:45:00,692 about a year and then I was like, okay, 1093 00:45:00,692 --> 00:45:02,718 thickness is better so it's hard to be 1094 00:45:02,718 --> 00:45:04,128 NPO or maybe any of you 1095 00:45:04,128 --> 00:45:05,658 all know you have to write a research paper. 1096 00:45:05,658 --> 00:45:07,282 You try to take it out financially. 1097 00:45:07,282 --> 00:45:09,437 Forget what exactly what that great source 1098 00:45:09,437 --> 00:45:11,967 you've found was for sure. 1099 00:45:16,598 --> 00:45:18,258 All right. 1100 00:45:18,258 --> 00:45:19,697 Well, I think yes. 1101 00:45:19,697 --> 00:45:20,968 Go ahead. 1102 00:45:21,698 --> 00:45:23,208 Go ahead. 1103 00:45:23,208 --> 00:45:24,738 And let's see if I remember parts of it. 1104 00:45:24,738 --> 00:45:25,427 Okay. 1105 00:45:25,427 --> 00:45:33,997 So oh, yeah. Yeah. 1106 00:45:36,048 --> 00:45:37,967 Yeah. 1107 00:45:37,967 --> 00:45:39,737 Yeah. 1108 00:45:44,198 --> 00:45:46,527 Yeah. 1109 00:45:54,818 --> 00:46:04,277 Yeah. As you're writing it, 1110 00:46:04,277 --> 00:46:14,278 the way that blue they iron. 1111 00:46:14,288 --> 00:46:16,557 Yeah. 1112 00:46:17,068 --> 00:46:19,477 Yeah. 1113 00:46:19,477 --> 00:46:21,312 Yeah. 1114 00:46:21,312 --> 00:46:26,178 Interstates, H1, I myself. 1115 00:46:26,178 --> 00:46:28,307 Yeah. I sometimes say Aren't 1116 00:46:28,307 --> 00:46:33,797 you are definitely nothing consciously. 1117 00:46:33,797 --> 00:46:34,997 I just feel like I just 1118 00:46:34,997 --> 00:46:36,467 get up and kind of read them and I 1119 00:46:36,467 --> 00:46:37,727 don't really think too much 1120 00:46:37,727 --> 00:46:39,937 about am I saying? 1121 00:46:39,937 --> 00:46:41,557 Yeah, I mean, I, I think the only time 1122 00:46:41,557 --> 00:46:42,697 I really think about it isn't 1123 00:46:42,697 --> 00:46:45,533 that one poem where I have fire and bar, 1124 00:46:45,533 --> 00:46:46,927 like I have to make sure 1125 00:46:46,927 --> 00:46:48,487 that line, I'm like, Okay, 1126 00:46:48,487 --> 00:46:49,088 I actually have to 1127 00:46:49,088 --> 00:46:50,107 pronounce these do differently 1128 00:46:50,107 --> 00:46:52,583 or else the joke is not God. 1129 00:46:52,583 --> 00:46:55,178 But otherwise, no. I, I 1130 00:46:55,178 --> 00:46:57,503 think sometimes I say Ruth, 1131 00:46:57,503 --> 00:46:59,033 sometimes I'll say Russ. 1132 00:46:59,033 --> 00:47:00,457 I don't know, you know, 1133 00:47:00,457 --> 00:47:01,508 they just kind of happens that 1134 00:47:01,508 --> 00:47:03,248 way. That's a great question there. 1135 00:47:03,248 --> 00:47:05,962 I want to maybe I'll pay attention now. 1136 00:47:05,962 --> 00:47:07,763 Yeah. Well, so it totally 1137 00:47:07,763 --> 00:47:09,728 changes depending on where you are. 1138 00:47:09,728 --> 00:47:11,962 It depends it indefinitely where you are. 1139 00:47:11,962 --> 00:47:13,238 Also. Did I just touch 1140 00:47:13,238 --> 00:47:14,512 my sister on the phone? 1141 00:47:14,512 --> 00:47:15,338 Did I just talk to 1142 00:47:15,338 --> 00:47:15,908 my mom on the 1143 00:47:15,908 --> 00:47:16,687 final because that's going to be 1144 00:47:16,687 --> 00:47:21,478 real real 20 and slow. Yeah. Bridget. 1145 00:47:21,478 --> 00:47:22,262 Yeah. 1146 00:47:22,262 --> 00:47:23,958 I think after spending a day with you, 1147 00:47:23,958 --> 00:47:25,728 my Leighton Southern, 1148 00:47:25,728 --> 00:47:27,018 I was starting to come out 1149 00:47:27,018 --> 00:47:28,667 that actually a friend of mine told me 1150 00:47:28,667 --> 00:47:30,317 that's my one superpower that 1151 00:47:30,317 --> 00:47:32,162 if he ever lived in the South, 1152 00:47:32,162 --> 00:47:33,618 even for like a week and you got 1153 00:47:33,618 --> 00:47:35,177 a tiny bit of accent that said, 1154 00:47:35,177 --> 00:47:36,482 I can help you bring it back out. 1155 00:47:36,482 --> 00:47:39,662 Just by talking to this guy. 1156 00:47:39,662 --> 00:47:41,397 You gotta have skill. 1157 00:47:42,848 --> 00:47:46,307 Alright, so we have a few books for 1158 00:47:46,307 --> 00:47:47,687 sale and if you've been 1159 00:47:47,687 --> 00:47:49,397 most who will be happy to sign books. 1160 00:47:49,397 --> 00:47:50,447 So why don't we move to that 1161 00:47:50,447 --> 00:47:51,737 portion of the evening and I 1162 00:47:51,737 --> 00:47:52,818 thank the rest of you for coming. 1163 00:47:52,818 --> 00:47:54,963 Let's give our poet a big hand. 1164 00:47:54,963 --> 00:47:57,538 Thank you very much.