WEBVTT

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I'm taking a long look at you,
because I have a big debate

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to make about which
poems to do tonight.

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And that's one of the hardest
things about a reading,

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is try to figure out what
would be the right match

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for this audience.

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As most of you know, who
have read much of my work,

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I am both madly smitten
by this landscape

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and deeply frustrated
by its history

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and what still goes
on in the present.

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A couple of years
ago, I happened

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to see an article in the
Christian Science Monitor

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about the border.

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I'm always fascinated at
descriptions of the border

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when you're from there
and you're far away.

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And the comment in the
article was that la migra--

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and of course, it went on to
define la migra for people

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not from the border, the
Immigration Services.

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People in Mexico refer
to it as la migra.

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People along the border
refer to it as la migra.

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That this struggle between
the forces of the immigration

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service and the
people trying to come

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into this country
for various reasons

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had become a struggle in the way
that once Cowboys and Indians

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were a struggle.

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And the reporter said, in
fact, now on the border,

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you might expect to see children
playing, instead of Cowboys

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and Indians, immigration
officer, and the person trying

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to flee.

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So I started thinking about what
those voices might sound like,

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"La Migra."

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"One.

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Let's play la migra.

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I'll be the border patrol.

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You be the Mexican maid.

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I get the badge and sunglasses.

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You can hide and run,
but you can't get away,

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because I have a Jeep.

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I can take you wherever I
want, but don't ask questions,

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because I don't speak Spanish.

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I can touch you wherever
I want, but don't

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complain too much
because I've got boots

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and kick if I have to.

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And I have handcuffs,
oh, and a gun.

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Get ready, get set, run.

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Two.

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Let's play la migra.

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You be the border patrol.

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I'll be the Mexican woman.

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Your Jeep has a flat.

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And you have been
spotted by the sun.

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All you have is heavy hat,
glasses, badge, shoes, gun.

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I know this desert, where
to rest, where to drink.

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Oh.

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I am not alone.

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You hear us singing and
laughing with the wind.

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[SINGING] Agua dulce
brota acqui, acqui, acqui.

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But since you can't speak
Spanish, you do not understand.

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Get ready."

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