WEBVTT

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I thought of saying
another thing too,

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because many people that
I've met while have been here

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are writers and have an
interest in this kind of thing.

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This poem, I sent
off to what was then

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the newly appointed
poetry editor of Esquire,

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James Dickey.

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And so he sent it off
to the head office,

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and along with another.

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And apparently he didn't
prevail on the second one,

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but they published this
and I got a note back

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from an editor of Esquire
accepting this poem.

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And then there's a little
note scribbled on the side.

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Remember me, Genesis West?

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Now the reason I want to
say this to the writers

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here is, yes.

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Yes, I remember.

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Years ago, there was this
desperate little magazine

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out there in the Bay
Area called Genesis West.

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That's a renaissance
that didn't happen.

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It's defunct years ago,
but the editor then

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was this desperate character
who now has all that power

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and money back there pumping.

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Well, now I want to try--

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most of this as
I know very well,

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has been just sort
of in the middle.

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And I don't have
anything very extreme,

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but there is something
I feel like making.

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I don't want to overdo
this apology business

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at the beginning, because that
would oversell it in some ways,

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but freedom to communicate
is all kinds of freedom.

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And I think I believe
in all of them,

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but I want to try one that's
a little bit different.

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And so forgive me
if this is wrong.

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This is not the last poem,
but there are two more

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to take the weight off this
one, but this is called "Bess."

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"Ours are the streets, where
Bess first met her cancer.

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She went to work every day,
passed the secure houses.

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At her job in the library,
she arranged better and better

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flowers.

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And when students
asked for books,

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her hand went out to help.

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In the last year
of her life, she

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had to keep her friends from
knowing how happy they were.

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She listened while they
complained about food or work,

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or the weather.

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And the great national events
danced their grotesque fake

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importance.

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Always pain moved where she
moved, she walked ahead.

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It came, she hid.

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It found her.

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No one ever served
another so truly.

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No enemy ever meant
so strong a hate.

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It was almost as if there was
no room left for her on earth,

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but she remembered
where joy used to live.

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She straightened his flowers.

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She did not weep when
she passed its houses.

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And when finally she
pulled into a tiny corner

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and slipped from pain,
her hand opened again.

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And the streets opened,
and she wished all well."

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