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.