WEBVTT

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I'm going to read some
poems from each of my books

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before I read poems from my
new manuscript, A Full Heart.

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From Stand Up
Friend With Me, this

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is a poem called
"An Ode for Ookie".

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Ookie was a walrus I used to
go visit at the Coney Island

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aquarium.

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The poem is called
"At the Coney Island

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Aquarium, an Ode for Ookie,
the Older Walrus Child".

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They had brought two new baby
walruses in to share the pool

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and it caused a problem.

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So I subtitled the poem
"The Sibling Rival".

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"Do not worry,
sweet little walrus,

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about the superior cuteness
of those two new babies

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they brought to share your pool.

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You keep pushing the
twins out of the way,

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more concerned about keeping
them from getting attention

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than having your own scrub
brush nose whiskers rubbed

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so that no one gets the chance
to give you the endless hugs

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and kisses you deserve.

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It is impossible, of course,
to be more popular than twins.

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So finally, you sink to
the bottom and play dead,

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hoping our hearts break.

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Mine does anyway.

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And the keeper
watches anxiously.

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So you see it works.

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But how long can you sit
at the bottom of the water

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when lungs cry for air
and the heart for love?

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No, Ookie.

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Don't seek indiscriminate
love from the many

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as those two simple
minded children

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do who have not yet met with
heartbreak, although they will.

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And leap the railing right
into my arms, and squirm, they

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officially always, Ookie.

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Mine alone."

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