WEBVTT

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I have another one
which is a little,

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this is a political story.

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And everything in this story;
I like making things up,

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I like invention very much.

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But in this story, everything
written down happens exactly.

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This is completely transposed
from life; what I did was

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I just left a few
things out, collapse

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the timescale a little bit.

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The plot of it starts
I've been playing tennis

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with a friend of mine.

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And it was a hot
day and we decided

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we would go have a
beer to cool down.

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And we walked into a
nearby place to have a beer

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and there was a TV on and
they were showing soap operas.

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And they were showing
President Nixon

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and landing at Miami where
there was a demonstration

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of young people at the airport.

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And the poem goes on from there.

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It's called "Beer After
Tennis" 22 August 1972.

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"The Palms is dank with
air conditioning and Dave

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and I go in.

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On its high perch, the TV
shrill is like a parrot.

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Steve and Vicki are worried,
because Vicki's first husband,

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declared legally dead,
is back, and he's

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the one who gave the
police the evidence

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to clear Steve of
that murder charge.

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Another beer, some
laundry, pinball.

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When you serve from the
west side of the court,

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the tossed ball grew black
and disappeared into the sun;

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and you hit where you
guessed it would come out.

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Another beer.

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Nixon gets out of a plane.

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1,500 young people,
as the TV calls them,

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cheer and wave signs.

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Praising his wife,
he tells them,

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"If you want to get
ahead in politics,

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marry above yourself."

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[LAUGHTER]

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On cue, they chant;
"We want Pat!

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We want Pat!"

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"You can't have her," he says.

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[LAUGHTER]

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He's not through with her yet.

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Farther down the
bar, a young people

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pours his beer and
stares at Nixon.

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[LAUGHTER]

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He turns toward us,
"Hey, man, is this live?"

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It's live.

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Dave and I play three
games of pinball.

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We walk out into
the lowered sun,

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and the chilled sweaters on
our bodies is like a moss.

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I let Dave off by Sonia's
house and drive on home

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to feed my dog.

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As the Earth turns, the
sun appears to fall."

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