WEBVTT

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I will end with a prose
piece called Standing Up.

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In a split second
of hard thought,

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I managed to catch her.

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I stopped holding the
hand in my hands, strange.

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She didn't really feel living
rigid, dry, an old white plume

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ridden lady's hat that freaked
out the truth from 1912

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thundering there and other
rows from the fence boards

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as when you open
a photo album that

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has got so old that no one can
identify the people any longer.

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I carried her back inside the
chicken netting and let her go.

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All of a sudden she
came back to life.

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She knew who she was and ran
off according to the rules.

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And the odds are
thick with taboos.

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But the Earth all around is
full of affection and tenacity.

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A low stone wall half
overgrown with leaves.

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When dusk begins
to fall, the stones

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are faintly luminous with
a 100-year-old warmth

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from the hands that built it.

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It's been a hard winter,
but summer is here

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and the fields want
us to walk upright.

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Every man unimpeded
but careful as when

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you stand up in a small boat.

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I remember a day in Africa
on the banks of the Shari.

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There were many boats, an
atmosphere positively friendly,

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the man almost
blue black in color

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with three parallel
scars on each cheek

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meaning the Sara tribe.

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I am welcomed on the boat.

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It's a canoe hollowed
from a dark tree.

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The canoe is incredibly
rocky even when

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you sit on your heels,
a balancing act.

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If you have the heart
on the left side,

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you have to lean a
bit to the right,

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nothing in the pockets,
no big arm movements,

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please all rhetoric
must be left behind.

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It's necessary, rhetoric
would ruin everything here.

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The canoe glides
out over the water.

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Thank you.

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We can talk more in
this cold reception.

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