WEBVTT

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I'm going to begin
with the first poem

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of "Bright Dead Things."

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A poem was written for the
day before the Kentucky Derby,

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which is the Kentucky
Oaks day, which

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is when all the female horses
race-- when the fillies race.

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"How to triumph like a girl.

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I like the lady horses best.

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How they make it all look easy,
like running 40 miles per hour

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is as fun as taking
a nap, or grass.

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I like their lady horse
swagger after winning.

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Ears up, girls, ears up.

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But mainly, let's be honest,

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I like that they're ladies.

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As if this big dangerous
animal is also a part of me.

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That somewhere inside the
delicate skin of my body,

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there pumps an 8-pound female
horse heart, giant with power,

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heavy with blood.

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Don't you want to believe it?

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Don't you want to lift my shirt
and see the huge beating genius

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machine that thinks,

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no, it knows it's going
to come in first."