WEBVTT

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I've been writing some
prose poems and perhaps I'll

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end by reading two
prose poems or--

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I'm just going to read
one prose poem then

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I'm going to do something
totally different to end with.

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This poem is called
"Sudden Things"

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and it's written in paragraphs.

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A storm was coming, that
was why it was dark.

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The wind was blowing the
fronds of the palm trees off.

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They were maples.

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I looked out the window
across the big lawn.

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The house was huge, full
of children and old people.

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Suddenly, as I looked into
the ferns and the zinnias,

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I saw that the lion was loose.

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Either because of the wind,
or by malevolent human energy,

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which is the same thing,
the cage had come open.

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Suppose a child walked outside!

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A child walked outside.

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I knew that I must
protect him from the lion.

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I threw myself on
top of the child.

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The lion roared over me.

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Suddenly, there was
a loud cracking noise

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in the branches and the bushes.

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The lion cringed back in terror.

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I looked up and saw that
the elephant was loose!

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The elephant was taller
than the redwoods.

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He was hairy like a mammoth.

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His tusks trailed vines.

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Parrots screeched
around his head.

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His eyes rolled crazily.

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He trumpeted.

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The ice-cap was breaking up!

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The lion backed off, whining.

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The boy ran for the house.

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I covered his retreat,
I locked all the doors

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and pulled the bars across them.

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An old lady tried to open a
door to get a better look.

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I spoke sharply to her, she
sat down grumbling and pulled

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a blanket over her knees.

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Out of the window I saw
zebras and rattlesnakes

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and wildebeests and cougars
and woodchucks on the lawns and

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in the tennis courts.

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I worried how,
after the storm, we

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would put the animals
back in their cages,

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and get to the mainland.

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But I wasn't really worried.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Just in case you didn't
notice, that was a dream.

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That was really a--

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I fought with that thing for
so long and leaving out details

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that were really in the dream.

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And the poem would never
march until I finally

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got all the details
that were really in it,

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even the ones that I
couldn't make sense out of.

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Like what's the old lady doing
with the blanket on her knee?

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She's there.