WEBVTT

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And now, the last poem,
"El Ojo de la Ballena,"

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"The Eye of the Whale."

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Alison is going to read first
the translation into English.

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But I want to tell you that
I wrote this poem just--

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was one [? fruit ?] of
the spirits of five years

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of activism defending the great
whale in Laguna San Ignacio

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against the project of
the Mexican government

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and the Mitsubishi Corporation
to be the largest salt

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[? work ?] in the world in
the nursery of the great whale

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in Mexico and one of the
sacred places in nature.

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There was five
years we traveled,

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my wife, Betty, and me
many times to the place.

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We pet the whales.

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We experienced the
presence of the whales.

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And after we finish with
them, the president of Mexico

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canceled the project.

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And we were there.

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I feel free to write poetry.

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And I wrote this poem,
"El Ojo de la Ballena."

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[APPLAUSE]

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"The Eye of the Whale."

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"'And God created
the great whales.'

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Genesis, 1:21.

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For Betty.

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And there in San
Ignacio lagoon, God

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created the great
whales and each creature

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that moves on the shadowy
thighs of the waters.

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God created dolphin and
sea lion, blue heron

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and green turtle, white
pelican, golden eagle,

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and double crested cormorant.

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And God said unto the whales,
'be fruitful and multiply

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in acts of love that are
visible on the surface

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only through a bubble
or a fin, flapping,

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while the cow is seized on the
law prehensile penis below.

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There is no splendor
greater than a gray when

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the light turns it silver.

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Its bottomless breath
is an exhalation.'

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And God saw that love
between the whales

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and the sporting with their
calves in the magical lagoon

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was good.

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And God said, 'seven whales
together make up a procession,

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100, a daybreak.'

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And the whales came up to
spot God over the dancing

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gunnels of the waters.

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And God was sighted
by a whale's eye.

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And whales filled the
waters of the Earth.

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And the evening and the
morning were the fifth day."

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[SIGHS]

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[APPLAUSE]

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