WEBVTT

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For me, it's a natural trip from
that poem to this, that trip

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from the natural world to the
world of physical confinement.

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The organization
mentioned in this poem--

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I belong to a number
of them by reputation,

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but I'm a card carrying member
of very few organizations,

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not even the Association
of University Professors.

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But I belong to the SAM,
and this is about them,

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and the forum will
explain what they are.

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This is called Magic
Night at the Reformatory.

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We're here because we're here,
and the gray haired salesman

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begins our act with
coins, plucking them out

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of the air with
his white fingers.

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And in this room, in this
building, in a reformatory,

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all the young men sit still
in their folding chairs

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to see him making
something from nothing.

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When he caught the coins,
it spilled out of his nose

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into a nickel plated
bucket, he grinned.

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What am I doing grinning
here with the others,

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taking, waiting my
turn, sweating it out

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at the edge of the platform?

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The trick is showing your
teeth at the right time,

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but every boy should know
the applause goes on,

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then off, they pass it
out, then jerk it back,

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looking around to see what the
others are putting or taking.

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The money shines in their
eyes, they purse their mouths.

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Now the fat banker is
carrying a newspaper down

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and crossways, dividing
the who from how

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and cutting the bad news in
half again and again to a wad

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the size of a wallet and
then unfolding it whole.

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For God's sake, don't
teach them anything

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they can use, the warden
said, and no female assistant.

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Deadpanned, they
slump in their seats,

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not being fooled,
not being taken in.

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The doctor cut the
rope, knots it,

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restores it, and bumbles off
stage, dropping his scissors.

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The architect conjures
doves from a warming pan,

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and one flaps up,
goes skittering around

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a windowless of room, flies
back to become a squab, which

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he nods for an exit.

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And then I'm on, with
only a deck of cards,

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watching my hands grow thick
through waterfall and accordion

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shuffle, fans, sloppy arm
turnovers, and colored things,

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as I learned when I was too
young and too lucky to get

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arrested, except on Halloween.

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I remember friends who
taught me to steal book, then

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how to write them.

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What kind of sleight of
hand will work tomorrow?

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What kind of example
were we supposed to be?

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The White, Indian,
and Negro faces

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are watching to see what
we can do, if anything--

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production, destruction,
restoration, illusion,

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manipulations, with
no intermission,

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with nothing usable in
the house of correction.

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And I finish by throwing cards
with a flick of the wrist,

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skimming one after the
other over their head

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and into the dark, at the back
of a room where they smack

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into the wall and
drop to the floor,

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like sparrows conking
themselves on glass.

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The random applause
does nothing to anyone.

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The lights go on.

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One Indian is trying to throw a
card with a flick of the wrist,

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it sticks in his fingers.

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And we, the nervous Society
of American Magicians,

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cluster to talk about ourselves.

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The guards reform the audience
and file it loud and long

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through a corridor to vanish.

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Under the floodlit
night, we stroll

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to the gate, which
opens, as if by magic.

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[APPLAUSE]

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