WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.410 align:middle line:90%


00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:05.910 align:middle line:90%
Well, let some people come in.

00:00:05.910 --> 00:00:11.260 align:middle line:90%


00:00:11.260 --> 00:00:14.590 align:middle line:84%
This next poem is
called The Sleeper.

00:00:14.590 --> 00:00:23.240 align:middle line:84%
And it talks about
my childhood hero

00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:30.080 align:middle line:84%
Sonny Hug who I've written
a number of poems about.

00:00:30.080 --> 00:00:32.540 align:middle line:90%
The Sleeper.

00:00:32.540 --> 00:00:35.300 align:middle line:84%
When I was the sissy of
the block who nobody wanted

00:00:35.300 --> 00:00:38.750 align:middle line:84%
on their team,
Sonny Hug persisted

00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:43.190 align:middle line:84%
in believing that my small size
was an asset, not the liability

00:00:43.190 --> 00:00:45.560 align:middle line:90%
and curse I felt it was.

00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:47.720 align:middle line:84%
And he saw a use
for my swift feet

00:00:47.720 --> 00:00:51.050 align:middle line:84%
with which I ran
away from fights.

00:00:51.050 --> 00:00:53.450 align:middle line:84%
He kept putting me into
complicated football

00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:57.860 align:middle line:84%
plays which would have been
spectacular if they worked.

00:00:57.860 --> 00:01:00.050 align:middle line:84%
For instance, me
getting clear in front

00:01:00.050 --> 00:01:03.800 align:middle line:84%
and him shooting the ball
over, or the sensation

00:01:03.800 --> 00:01:07.670 align:middle line:84%
of the block, the sleeper
play in which I would lie down

00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:11.420 align:middle line:84%
on the sidelines near the
goal as though resting

00:01:11.420 --> 00:01:15.410 align:middle line:84%
and out of action until
the scrimmage began.

00:01:15.410 --> 00:01:19.280 align:middle line:84%
And I would step onto the
field, receive the long throw,

00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.550 align:middle line:84%
and to the astonishment of all
the tough guys in the world

00:01:22.550 --> 00:01:25.100 align:middle line:84%
step over the goal
line for a touchdown.

00:01:25.100 --> 00:01:27.980 align:middle line:90%


00:01:27.980 --> 00:01:29.870 align:middle line:90%
That was the theory anyway.

00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:31.910 align:middle line:84%
In practice, I
had the fatal flaw

00:01:31.910 --> 00:01:34.820 align:middle line:90%
of not being able to catch.

00:01:34.820 --> 00:01:36.620 align:middle line:84%
And usually had my
fingers bent back

00:01:36.620 --> 00:01:38.510 align:middle line:90%
in the breath knocked out of me.

00:01:38.510 --> 00:01:41.420 align:middle line:84%
So the plays always
failed, but Sonny

00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:45.110 align:middle line:84%
kept on trying until he
grew up out of my world

00:01:45.110 --> 00:01:48.620 align:middle line:84%
into the glomerulus varsity
crowd, the popular kids

00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:51.140 align:middle line:90%
of Lynbrook High.

00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:54.050 align:middle line:84%
But I will always have
this to thank him for,

00:01:54.050 --> 00:01:56.810 align:middle line:84%
that when I look back
on childhood that four

00:01:56.810 --> 00:02:01.010 align:middle line:84%
psychiatrists haven't been able
to help me bear the thought of,

00:02:01.010 --> 00:02:05.150 align:middle line:84%
there was not much to be glad
for besides his foolish and

00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:08.570 align:middle line:84%
delicious faith that
with all my oddities

00:02:08.570 --> 00:02:10.910 align:middle line:84%
there was a place
in the world for me

00:02:10.910 --> 00:02:14.560 align:middle line:84%
if only he could find
the special role.