WEBVTT

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I want to read a little
poem for a wonderful fiction

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writer, Andre Dubus.

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Many of you, if you're
studying fiction,

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are reading his stories, and
this is Andre Dubus the father.

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And there's a story referred
to in this poem, which

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is called "A Father's Story."

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Many of you probably know
it, if you don't, it's

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suggested in this poem.

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This is set in
Provincetown, a place

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that Jane and I both frequented
in some important years

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of our lives.

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And if you don't know that Andre
Dubus-- he was struck by a car.

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He was assisting
a motorist who was

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stuck on the side of a highway
and he was struck by a hit

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and run driver went by
and just (TONGUE CLICK).

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The driver of the broken
down car was killed.

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Andre lost a leg and,
subsequently, his life

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and his body went through
a series of degradations

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until he finally died.

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"Matins for Andre Dubus."

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We knocked on that door that
after-- we knocked on your door

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that afternoon while
you were making love.

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Apparent when you
answered, zipping up.

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Laughing, the joyful exertion
like sunburn on your face.

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Then, like a noisy pack of
dogs, we hit Commercial Street,

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heading for Napi's where you
treated the whole roundtable

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of poets to oysters and beer.

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This was before
you were stricken.

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You could still walk.

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Two knees to hold you
in lovemaking and prayer

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both of which you
savored the way God

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must savor the wholeness
of contradiction.

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This morning, sitting
alone, I remember your story

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about the father who must choose
whether to do what's right

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or to harbor his daughter
who's done wrong.

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A man of faith who
must harbor himself

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accepting what the world
inflicts as a lesson

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without expecting a cure.

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Andre, I am still here, where
your suffering weighs the same

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as your joy and the
world goes on asking

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for what's impossible.

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And the only choice
is to give it,

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as the faithful give
themselves to God, to prevent

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being taken by faithlessness.

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