WEBVTT

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"Missed Netting"
"Your letters were

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sterling, not enthusiastic.

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The letters disappear, are late.

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Lately, I don't trust them.

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What if he/she isn't
a good letter writer?

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What if the institution
doesn't have

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a tradition of letters, two
to three page, single space

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letters?

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The letter arrived
from the heavy hitter,

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meaning if so and so is the
best candidate from the best

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institution, he's the best, or
worst, candidate in the world.

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One shouldn't write letters when
one is unwilling, ungraceful,

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untruthful omissive or gnarled.

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A child should not write
with a crayon upon the wall

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or in Plaster of Paris
with one's finger.

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One shouldn't write,
when waylordly forlorn,

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a letter of introduction.

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One shouldn't desire letters.

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Yes, you should.

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You do.

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How could you not
desire to touch them?

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Nor should one dismiss them.

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He carried only a letter of
introduction and a few coins.

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Her hand is very plain.

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A new way of combining
superlatives,

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the desires of
letters is to impress

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upon the reader a
purpose or sentiment,

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to convey information, to
draw a picture, to persuade.

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She was in bed scrawling
by the light of a dim moon.

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Her letters appear to be
animals, unruly and untamed.

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They disobeyed her
again and again

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until she had to chain
them to her hand,

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until they meant nothing.

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Letters tied with
string, hidden,

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carried, buried in a park,
burned in a cast iron pan

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while reciting resolutions.

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He wrote to his father
every day during wartime.

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She was shy about writing.

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So after struggling
with the little card,

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she did not enclose
it after all.

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Another rush right after the
concert, after the incident,

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after the meeting,
after the breaking

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off in anger or
fearfulness, in isolation.

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Do letters themselves desire
an answer or anecdote?

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He could not help himself.

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He was drawn to
letters, drawn to write.

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In conversation, she was often
dull, unable to form thoughts

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or to speak.

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But in letters, she grew
bold and gained manners

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she could not perform in person.

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Are you comfortable?

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The letters asked one another
standing lined along a fence.

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Is that you I hear creeping
along the limb, piled

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in a corner, filed
in a dark metal box,

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spoken repetitively in
the mind of the receiver,

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the respondent?

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Letters want to read and
not be spoken, read silently

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and tearfully, read and
shredded hidden from other eyes.

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A man and a woman of letters
consulted an alphabet fence,

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and there they live
contently behind the borders

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of textuality.

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A girl of letters reads
a book with pictures.

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A small boy of letters
tears the page.

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A smaller boy of letters chews
the book until it dissolves.

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He points to the images.

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That.

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That.

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Demanding recognition
again and again.

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Letters fall to feed the garden.

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Letters unopened, carried
in a pocket all day,

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until a moment of privacy opens.

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