poem is entitled the things we leave
behind one cold Saturday morning I sat
down in a diner and reached behind the
sugar packets in salt shakers so still I
could break them with the touch and I
found a crumpled up napkin but I
unfolded it to find a vast map of
physics scroll equations streamlined and
refined place so finally on the pale
background that it became a foreign
language I could not wait to learn
[Music]
Newton didn’t care about paper
complacency a cup of hot coffee and a
$2.00 tip but this author was not Newton
in the diner with its smear of chrome
and linoleum was his laboratory because
those writers we’re all reinventing
gravity breathing in steam and breathing
out the chilled distilling it down to
what makes us human down to earth so one
kappa pen bright blue casing bracing the
space between your fingers pull over a
napkin and write I dare you because the
best authors nowadays don’t just use
plain paper anymore they have their
keyboard keys and backs of spreadsheets
every folder I’ve ever owns as a poem on
the inside cover my mother keeps paper
cranes on her windowsill like post-it
notes and I have never known a day
without writing on the insides of my
arms you look outside and it’s snowing
and on the table in front of you is
something amazing
maybe it’s an hour’s work or maybe it’s
your life’s work or maybe it’s both now
what happens when you leave it behind
shove it with the condiments and forget
about its existence there may be a girl
with fingers staying bright blue trying
to replicate you and you’re in labyrinth
Ian’s linguistic masterpiece
she’ll celebrate your innovation and
your notation will become the foundation
of her entire world but what happens
when you walk out that door only to
waltz back in and a week
we’re a month year you’ll come back here
sitting down at your regular booth
reaching behind the sugar packets in
salt shakers so still they crumble under
your touch you find a crumpled up napkin
and through respiration and Riaan
spiration you and your new point of view
are open wide I’d like the night sky
like your inner child just found a
foreign language he couldn’t wait to
learn what happens when you leave behind
something that changes everything
and how many times have we found it
thank you [Applause]