WEBVTT

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It's now my pleasure to
call back up to the lectern

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Mr. Billy Collins, who
was introduced moments

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ago, earlier, by Dr. Shelton.

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But let me just had a personal
note that a few years ago, two

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or three years
ago, Billy was here

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in Tucson at the Chamber
Festival-- the Tucson

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Chamber Festival.

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And he sang--
rather, he recited,

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though it sounded like he
was singing, of course--

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"The Invention of the Saxophone"
accompanied by a jazz sax

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player, and it was one of
the most marvelous moments

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of marriage of music and
words that I had ever heard.

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And thanks to Mr. Billy Collins.

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[SPEAKING SPANISH]

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Billy.

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Thank you for those great words.

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When Director Gail
Brown asked me to--

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if I would attend and read
some of my favorite poems,

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I didn't realize she meant the
favorite poems of other people.

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[LAUGHTER]

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As I mentioned, I'm
an only child, so--

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The thing about being an only
child as it's always your turn.

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So I'm going to read
some of my poems,

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and I'm going to
start with a poem--

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[LAUGHTER]

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[APPLAUSE]

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I'm going to start with
a poem called "Litany."

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And what I did
with this poem was,

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I wanted to write a poem that
was driven by reading a poem,

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to write a poem that mocked--

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that made fun of--
a certain convention

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in European love poetry.

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And that convention,
used by male poets

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to seduce, or at least
impress their beloveds--

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as they were then
quaintly called--

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was to compare them to,
often, the beauties of nature

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or anything they can think of.

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And it was thought
that they understood

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that deep in the
soul of womanhood

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lay this craving to
be compared to stuff.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I got the inspiration
to write the poem

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by reading a poem that indulged
itself just in a long--

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two pages of comparisons,
trying to overwhelm this woman

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with flattery.

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And the poem that this fellow
wrote, who will be unnamed,

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began looking at the
beloved's eyes and saying,

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you are the bread and the
knife, the crystal goblet

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and the wine.

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And that's the way
I started my poem.

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But I'm going to stop myself
here, because there's someone--

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a friend, a little
friend of mine

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recites this poem
much better than I do.

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And I think since you've
paid for your seats

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and you're supporting the
poetry series and the center,

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you really deserve the best.

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And there's someone who
does it better than I do.

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And I'm going to let
him read this poem,

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then I'll come back
and read some more.

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Two very impressive
things about my friend.

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One is that he
memorized this poem,

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and that's more than I can say.

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I don't know if I could stand
up here without the book.

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And I mentioned the
power of memorization.

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It's not a very
memorizable poem,

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because it doesn't have end
rhyme or regular meter, which

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is the way poetry
is memorizable.

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And the other impressive thing
about him, although he turned--

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last month he turned four,
when he memorized this poem,

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he was all of three years old.

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Three years old.

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