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And the last poem I'll
read is "December,"

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which concludes that series
and will conclude the reading.

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I had hoped to open this
up for questions afterward

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but my time is gone
and so I'll just linger

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and if you have
questions perhaps you

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can ask them individually.

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I probably won't be
able to answer them

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but something to do.

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This is "December."

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The trees are-- the trees
are a blond haze scarred

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by the emptiness of magpies.

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The road follows
me at a distance

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and I come back to
this place with nothing

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in my hands for the river,
telling the gospel of winter

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every word true and
no one to believe me.

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The snow is dying for all of us.

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I come back like
an empty revolver,

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hoping that something will
happen here to change the past.

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But the same gray board
is nailed to the same tree

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and the past remains.

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I pile up a small mound of
stones for its monument.

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This is where the words
died and I buried them.

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Now, I am wearing my
tongue for a coat.

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Thank you very much.

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[APPLAUSE]

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