WEBVTT

00:00:10.434 --> 00:00:13.785
The other day I watched a TED Talk
with Natalie Merchant.

00:00:13.995 --> 00:00:18.767
She revitalized these poems
by adding music and adding costuming,

00:00:18.767 --> 00:00:21.007
and she reinterpreted
a lot of classical poetry.

00:00:21.007 --> 00:00:22.017
I also watched one

00:00:22.017 --> 00:00:26.516
with my friend Reeves
doing a great spoken word piece

00:00:26.516 --> 00:00:31.616
with lots of graphics
on the mystery surrounding 4:00 am.

00:00:31.616 --> 00:00:33.049
You've seen that one. Amazing.

00:00:33.049 --> 00:00:35.287
So I kept thinking
poetry needs to keep pushing.

00:00:35.287 --> 00:00:37.242
We need to keep going further and further

00:00:37.242 --> 00:00:41.039
in order to keep up with this generation
of iPad users and texters.

00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.132
We need to be able
to keep poetry innovative,

00:00:43.132 --> 00:00:45.395
so I think we should push
to a different level.

00:00:45.395 --> 00:00:48.855
And what if a poet were telling you a poem

00:00:49.535 --> 00:00:51.659
while solving the Rubik's Cube?

00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:53.159
Wouldn't that be like amazing?

00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:54.623
(Laughter)

00:00:55.008 --> 00:00:58.882
I mean, we really don't have
any Rubik's Cubes lying around now, do we?

00:00:59.491 --> 00:01:01.140
(Laughter)

00:01:01.490 --> 00:01:04.336
(Applause)

00:01:06.816 --> 00:01:08.289
Okay.

00:01:08.289 --> 00:01:12.239
So since we have this cube,
at this time in our history,

00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:14.904
it isn't so amazing to see
somebody solve a Rubik's Cube.

00:01:14.904 --> 00:01:15.951
You can go on YouTube

00:01:15.951 --> 00:01:17.994
and find somebody
solving it in record time,

00:01:17.994 --> 00:01:20.842
with one hand tied
behind their back, with their toes.

00:01:20.937 --> 00:01:22.472
I suppose the only thing

00:01:22.472 --> 00:01:25.568
that separates the average human being
from one who could solve it

00:01:25.568 --> 00:01:27.682
is putting in the time.

00:01:28.202 --> 00:01:30.639
Speaking of time,
want to hear a poem?

00:01:30.639 --> 00:01:32.850
(Audience) Yeah!

00:01:32.850 --> 00:01:36.016
It seems like I'm always wasting time,

00:01:36.016 --> 00:01:39.383
buying time, spending time,
or trying to borrow some time,

00:01:39.383 --> 00:01:41.499
but these days, time is money.

00:01:41.499 --> 00:01:43.482
I heard somebody say
that money is time.

00:01:43.482 --> 00:01:45.118
Now, money doesn't grow on trees,

00:01:45.118 --> 00:01:47.746
but "It is the root of all evil,"
my mother always said.

00:01:47.746 --> 00:01:49.174
People who have a lot of money

00:01:49.174 --> 00:01:51.556
seem to have all the time
in the world, don't they?

00:01:51.556 --> 00:01:52.848
But money isn't everything.

00:01:52.848 --> 00:01:53.944
Time is of the essence,

00:01:53.944 --> 00:01:54.948
and essentially,

00:01:54.948 --> 00:01:58.293
in order to get more time,
I've got to have lots of money,

00:01:58.293 --> 00:02:01.350
but in order to get more money,
I've got to spend time,

00:02:01.350 --> 00:02:03.692
so time is the most valuable currency.

00:02:03.692 --> 00:02:06.826
I would like to share time,
but I have no spare time,

00:02:06.826 --> 00:02:08.687
not even time enough to make changes -

00:02:08.687 --> 00:02:10.445
change the world that change my mind.

00:02:10.445 --> 00:02:12.440
Time is running out.

00:02:12.440 --> 00:02:13.757
There's never enough time.

00:02:13.757 --> 00:02:14.972
Getting a college degree

00:02:14.972 --> 00:02:17.339
takes too much time
and costs too much money,

00:02:17.339 --> 00:02:19.439
so kids do crimes, end up locked up,

00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:23.155
serving time for stealing money,
doing hard time,

00:02:23.155 --> 00:02:24.775
for about the same amount of money

00:02:24.775 --> 00:02:27.188
it would cost to get them
a college degree, but -

00:02:27.188 --> 00:02:28.310
Meanwhile,

00:02:28.310 --> 00:02:29.310
(Laughter)

00:02:29.310 --> 00:02:30.507
outside the prison gates,

00:02:30.507 --> 00:02:32.889
hunger eats away
at the walls of a child's stomach.

00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:33.938
Daddy worked overtime,

00:02:33.938 --> 00:02:36.703
but the company accountant
took some well-deserved time off

00:02:36.703 --> 00:02:38.940
to getting some tee time
and time with the kids.

00:02:38.940 --> 00:02:40.561
You'll get your check in due time.

00:02:40.561 --> 00:02:42.512
Meanwhile, I'm standing
in the lunch line,

00:02:42.512 --> 00:02:44.467
trying to find a moment to write a rhyme,

00:02:44.467 --> 00:02:46.704
and I find myself
sneaking off to the men's room

00:02:46.704 --> 00:02:48.658
to steal a few minutes of my boss's time,

00:02:48.658 --> 00:02:50.897
realizing I'll probably
never have enough time,

00:02:50.897 --> 00:02:54.630
because when I signed that dotted line,
I signed away all my free …

00:02:54.630 --> 00:02:55.663
(Audience) time.

00:02:55.663 --> 00:02:58.096
So now my time
exists before nine and after five,

00:02:58.096 --> 00:03:00.828
and some nights I was there
way past nine,

00:03:00.828 --> 00:03:02.897
so I never had time
to spend at my friends.

00:03:02.897 --> 00:03:05.027
And though I was chasing the Benjamins,

00:03:05.027 --> 00:03:07.294
somehow I never had
any ends to spend.

00:03:07.294 --> 00:03:10.248
When we finally did carve out
a few minutes from our busy days,

00:03:10.248 --> 00:03:13.509
and then we would simply coalesce
around a common thread

00:03:13.509 --> 00:03:15.609
and coexist inside the hays,

00:03:15.609 --> 00:03:16.875
wiling away the minutes

00:03:16.875 --> 00:03:20.158
discussing the disgusting parts
of our dismal existences -

00:03:20.158 --> 00:03:23.774
punching in, punching out, serving time.

00:03:23.774 --> 00:03:25.632
Prisoners trapped inside the hourglass,

00:03:25.632 --> 00:03:27.642
choking on the sand storm
of possibilities,

00:03:27.642 --> 00:03:29.438
wishing we could all go back in time

00:03:29.438 --> 00:03:34.761
and remind ourselves to take the time
to appreciate the gift of time.

00:03:35.261 --> 00:03:37.869
And right now, through all the time outs,

00:03:37.869 --> 00:03:39.587
the time on stage, the studio time,

00:03:39.587 --> 00:03:41.682
the time and time again, bad timing,

00:03:41.682 --> 00:03:43.537
the absent-minded time spent wondering,

00:03:43.537 --> 00:03:45.205
"Will I get my big break this time,

00:03:45.205 --> 00:03:48.675
or should I just throw in the towel
or resign and get back up my grinding,

00:03:48.675 --> 00:03:51.954
so I could all out the wasted times
to have to make up for lost time?"

00:03:51.954 --> 00:03:54.833
Just yesterday, oh I looked up
in the sky and I saw a sign.

00:03:54.833 --> 00:03:59.216
Technology, education,
entertainment, design,

00:03:59.216 --> 00:04:03.404
an organization dedicated
with ideas in mind,

00:04:03.914 --> 00:04:05.568
and I thought,

00:04:06.218 --> 00:04:07.368
well,

00:04:07.931 --> 00:04:11.228
it's about ... time.

00:04:11.228 --> 00:04:14.717
(Applause) (Cheers)