WEBVTT

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I noticed that a
lot of poets write

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about public transportation.

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There's something
inspiring about it,

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and I'm not above that myself.

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This particular piece
is kind of an en--

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my experience of
riding on the L,

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and freezing my
ass off in Chicago,

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and just thinking warm thoughts,
and it's kind of in two voices.

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"Woolgathering"

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"Wear blue suit and overcoat.

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Pack olive sweater,
burgundy sweater.

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How you manage to know to
dress for snow with your desert

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blood, escapes you.

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But remember-- riding
the streets of Nogales

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with your prima, Marcella,
an afternoon early

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and hot before a carne
asada, on errand for ice

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and rolling up the windows.

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You had to sweat to look
cool as the group of batos

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standing in the street corner--

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their tank top machismo
rippling off them

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and waves of late summer sun.

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You were maybe 16, gangly for
your age, haircut and glasses

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made you look so
obviously gringo.

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Car coat, knit cap,
scarf, gloves--

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insulated against the snow's
sudden dance of apostrophes.

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So Marcella says, wear this,
handed you her dad's cap--

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the one he kept on the
seat but never wore,

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Coors scrolled across
the crown and red

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as the batos do-rag slouching
low against his brow,

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the way he slouched
on the corner.

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Sunglasses betray your
residency while you

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wait through the bright 40
degrees for the next bus South.

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Marcella hands you a pair of
sunglasses sitting on the dash.

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You scramble to follow
instruction, hot, black plastic

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across your nose, the hat
too big and riding down

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past the tips of your ears.

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Now put your arm
around me, Marcela

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says, nods over to the
batos on the corner.

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Ricky, she says, we're
going to make them jealous,

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and you start to motor by.

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Tug the knit cap
down past your ears,

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you were told but
didn't believe how cold

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the wind could oppress.

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Gabriel tells you, you look like
a cholo freezing his ass off.

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Órale, you shiver.

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The car, a sudden oven,
convecting sun passed

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rolled up windows,
Marcella smiles out,

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bandana boy smiles back--

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time suspended in the heat
of glass, curvature and turn.

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Your face lit up from the
inside of the L window,

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racketing through
underground stations.

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There I am again, vanity
smiles, another you

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and another window, each
self-division dividing

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endlessly, all remainders.

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Riding low, going slow,
Marcella nudges you

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and cranks her window down,
air chilling against moist arms

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and faces.

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The ice is melting
fast, you say, why'd we

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roll up the windows anyway?

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She laughs, 'so he'd think
we had air conditioning.'"

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