WEBVTT

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The final poem is
my insect tribute.

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It's sort of Kafkaesque,
and it's called "Crickets."

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"Hear them in my bathtub
and in my pantry,

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rusty hinges creaking.

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I turn out the light to
listen, rub and scrape

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the mystery of their
tiny velvet shrieks.

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There are nine crickets
below the stairs.

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Without their song,
a vast silence

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of lost socks and empty
suitcases stretches.

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Cricket of luck, I hear you, I
cradle your notes in my palm.

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Cricket of hardship, I
crushed you with a giant shoe.

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You sound like a train.

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Escape from me, go
and wake the dead

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who's nervous ears
are covered with dirt.

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Recluse with legs
of grass, black harp

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pond for a gambling debt.

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Listen, a crutch
under each elbow,

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your shotgun pulse, fresh bait.

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You lay yourself in the
shadows like sleek trout.

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You feast on book
bindings and script.

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To say I recognize you
makes my head narrow,

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and my legs ache
with fighting song.

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I am all knees and hair shirt.

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I come looking when you call."

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Thank you.

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That's it.

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[APPLAUSE]

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