WEBVTT

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When this book
came out, in 2012,

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I sent a box home to my parents,
and my nieces and nephews

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in Casa Grande,
Arizona, about an hour

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away where I was
born and raised.

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In my email, my youngest
nephew, Oscar, eight, send me

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a little text message,
can I take this book

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to show and tell?

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No, I say.

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No, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no.

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Let me send you JPEG
of the cover image

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and you could take
that to show and tell.

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[LAUGHTER]

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No.

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Adults only, I said.

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The next poem is
titled "Watermark."

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In this poem, I steal
a couple of phrases

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from the Gwendolyn Brooks
poem, "A Boy Breaking "Glass.

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And I also repeat the word
"socorro," again and again

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in this poem.

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In Spanish, socorro,
when called out urgently,

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becomes a call
for help, and also

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happens to be my mother's name.

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You see what I did there?

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[LAUGHTER]

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MFA, right here.

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[LAUGHTER]

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"Watermark."

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"In the dark, only the
devil can cast a shadow.

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Too poor to afford lilies,
she walked down the aisle

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holding a glass of milk.

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Her left breast is nicknamed
Juan, the right Diego.

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Nightly, she catches moths
with newspaper cones--

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hammocks skipper,
southern emerald.

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Lungs black with
cancer, her father

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was buried two months
before the wedding.

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Her name, a tassel in my mouth.

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Socorro, Socorro.

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Rain pierced her womb when
she was six months pregnant.

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Rain singed the
face of her child,

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the burn marks turning
into beauty marks.

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A beautiful flaw,
terrible ornament.

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I keep a spur under my pillow
to ward off nightmares.

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Too poor to afford
lace, she walked down

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the aisle on a cold
afternoon, her breath a veil.

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She arranges moth
wings on a table,

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reads the wings
like tarot cards--

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nine of swords, knight of coins.

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Her mouth waters when
she hears a bolero.

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Her father was buried
in pleated pants.

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Day after day she folds and
folds paper, alas, faros.

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She gave me a pack of
cigarettes on my 13th birthday.

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Often, I put on the gold
ring she leaves by the sink.

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Not cathedrals, but presents.

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The first man she saw
naked was the rain.

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The dark of her
knees a watermark.

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Socorro, Socorro.

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If I dream I'm cupping
her face with my hands,

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I wake up holding
the skull of a wolf."

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