WEBVTT

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You know, people tell you that
Chicago is the Windy City,

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and you hear that, oh, that's
because the politicians are

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full of hot air, right?

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Well, until you're there and
realize how hard this wind can

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blow, it's rather surprising.

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I got a sort of
welcome by the wind

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to Chicago not too long ago,
and this poem is about that.

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"Elemental"

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"Storm front all rained
out, The wind though,

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a persistent grudge,
tearing away hats,

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pulling ribs from umbrellas.

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It's comical how I'm trudging
up Aldine like something silent,

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slow motives, without breath.

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And leaves start to spiral
into an orange helix

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I recognize as dangerous, but my
body's too thick to move aside.

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An autumn swirls
about me, lifts me

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for a moment from
the common sidewalk--

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cyclonic, and I can do
nothing but burst out

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laughing till I'm set gently
down, like boots, concrete,

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gravity's dull embrace--

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everything that was movement,
now sudden, now still,

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no hint of my baptism by air."

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