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A Poem for Spring

2013-03-26 · letter vlog · John · 2:02 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

On a snowy first week of spring John recites spring poetry, recalls the U-Haul man's 'You gotta live somewhere' and says he has come to love Indianapolis; he shares E.E. Cummings's spring poem as a reminder that poetry teaches attention, and that you also get to live somewhere.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Date, spring greeted with lines of spring poetry; Emily Dickinson's light

  • ★★ On Tuesday, March 26th, 2013, 'also known as spring', John greets the season with a string of lines from poems in praise of spring. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John quotes Emily Dickinson's 'A light exists in spring' and asks where that light is: down with the snow, or in the gray sky that looks exactly like winter light. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Where is spring's light? The U-Haul man's 'You gotta live somewhere'; John's love of Indianapolis; ready for spring; introducing his favourite spring poem

  • ★★ John recalls that when he and the Yeti moved to Indianapolis, the U-Haul man, a 30-year resident, asked what he thought of the city, said: 'You gotta live somewhere.' — 00:00:29 · Sarah Urist Green, Indianapolis
  • ★ John thinks that is probably how many people feel about their hometowns. (hedged) — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John says he has come to love Indianapolis, even in spring snow: an unpretentious city of hidden beauty, his favourite kind, lovely even in winter. — 00:00:29 · Indianapolis
  • ★★ John says he is ready for spring: the calendar has made a promise that the outside, still snowy, has failed to keep. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Though he says he does not believe magical thinking works, John shares his favourite spring poem, by E.E. Cummings, in the hope that spring will happen. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:01:17 — Poetry as getting us to pay attention; John recites E.E. Cummings

  • ★★★ John loves the poem because it reminds us that poetry is partly in the business of getting us to try to pay attention. — 00:01:17

00:01:46 — 'You gotta live somewhere, but you also get to live somewhere'; spring is coming; sign-off

  • ★★★ John closes that you have to live somewhere, but you also get to live somewhere, and tells viewers spring is coming. — 00:01:46

    “You gotta live somewhere, Hank, but you also get to live somewhere.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Indianapolis · O sweet spontaneous earth

Also: A Light exists in Spring · E. E. Cummings · Emily Dickinson · Sarah Urist Green · U-Haul

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