WEBVTT

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This next poem is
called "Jesus Freaks".

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That's the title
that this group--

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I think they're still around--

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has given themselves.

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And I don't mean it--

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I mean, I'm trying in this poem
to reach out beyond myself.

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And to try and see that-- their
world from their perspective.

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It's an exercise
in what Keats would

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call a negative capability.

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"Jesus Freaks."

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"The approval they get from
above is all they need.

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So why should they
care if they offend me?

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Here in the parking
lot of the Super Duper,

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my arms full by stuffing a
pamphlet or two in my pocket.

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No point in shouting at them
to keep back when they're

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looking for disapproval.

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No reason for them to
obey the rules of one

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of the ignorant who supposes
the perpetual dusk he

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lives in sunny new.

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Their business is with
my soul, however buried.

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With my unvoiced
wish for the truth.

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Too soft for me to catch
over the street noise.

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Should I rest my packages on my
car a minute and try to listen?

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If I'm sure they really
believe they're vexing me

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in my own best interest.

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To them, I'm the loser they
used to be when they sweated

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daily to please themselves.

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Deaf to their real wishes.

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Why make it easy for me to
load the trunk of my car

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with grocery bags
when they offer

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a joy that none of my purchases,
however free of impurities,

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can provide?

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Their calls to
attention shouldn't

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sound any more threatening
than the peal of a church bell.

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And if I call on the car
phone to lodge a complaint,

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jail will seem to
them the perfect place

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to bear witness in this dark
dominion, where Herod rules,

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in jail.

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But also guests at a banquet.

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While I, they're
certain, stubbornly stand

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outside shivering in the snow.

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Too proud to enter a
hall of my own devising.

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And enjoy a meal strangers
have taken pains with.

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Yes, the table's crowded.

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But there's room for me."

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