WEBVTT

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So I was writing all these
long poems, diatribes,

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went on and on and on.

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Now, I wanted to write short
poems, but I would start

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and these pages
would fall out of me,

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not easily, but nevertheless.

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And then, recently, I started
writing these very short poems

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that I'd like to
share some with you.

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I'm calling them
"lumens," which is

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what you see in the light
bulbs when you buy them.

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So many lumens,
measures of light.

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And they're preceded by
a quote from John Cage.

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He says, "There are no secrets.

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It's just, we thought
that they said dead

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when they said bread."

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[LAUGHTER]

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"Décolletage.

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You say it's lime,
but I say smoke quartz

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was squeezed for your perfume."

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"Tattoo.

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A child is a lonely thing to
put in prison without a lover,

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lonely in its parent's care."

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"After Yes.

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To build the chair.

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To build the chair.

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To build the chair.

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To sit.

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To sit.

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Witness the mystery, world."

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"The Dream in which
I Open a Window.

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A marriage happened
in this place.

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I was alone, so quiet."

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"Nirvana Stair.

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I come from small seas
littered with playful islands.

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Feel how my heart is
shaped by that sheltering."

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"The Argument.

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Just the 'I've seen it all
before,' not the familiar

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feeling."

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"Privacy.

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Finally, the only one I
want to caress is you.

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You watch the changing
light across the sky.

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I watch your eyes."

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"Oh, Lord.

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I love when you
take over her eyes

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and pierce me with your sky."

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"Primitive.

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The heart leaps.

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The heart opens.

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The heart closes.

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The heart grieves.

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It blames.

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It sinks into your hand.

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It heals."

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Thank you.

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This is the first time I've
spoken them above a whisper.

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[LAUGHTER]

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[SIGH]

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[APPLAUSE]

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