WEBVTT

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They say never-- the
teachers of writing

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say, never to write
about writing itself.

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But sometimes, there's
nothing else to write about.

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[LAUGHTER]

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This poem is called "Velocity."

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"In the club car that
morning, I had my notebook

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open on my lap and
my pen uncapped,

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looking every inch
the writer, right down

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to the little writer's
frown on my face.

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But there was nothing to
write about except life

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and death and the low warning
sound of the train whistle.

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I did not want to write
about the scenery that

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was flashing past, cows
spread over a pasture,

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hay rolled up
meticulously-- things

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you see once and
will never see again.

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But I kept my pen moving by
drawing over and over again

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the face of a
motorcyclist in profile

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for no reason I can think
of, a biker with sunglasses

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and a weak chin, leaning
forward helmet-less,

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his long thin hair trailing
behind him in the wind.

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I also drew many lines
to indicate speed,

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to show the air becoming visible
as it broke over the biker's

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face, the way it
was breaking over

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the face of the locomotive that
was pulling me toward Omaha

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and whatever lay beyond Omaha--

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for me and all the other
stops to make before the time

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would arrive to stop for good.

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We must always look at
things from the point

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of view of eternity, the college
theologians used to insist.

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From which I
imagine we would all

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appear to have speed lines
trailing behind us as we rushed

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along the road of the
world, as we rush down

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the long tunnel of time.

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The biker of course,
drunk on the wind.

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But also the man reading
by the fire, speed lines

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coming off his
shoulders in his book.

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And the woman standing
on a beach studying

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the curve of the horizon.

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Even the child asleep on a
summer night, speed lines

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flying from the
posters of her bed,

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from the white tips
of the pillowcases,

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and from the edges of her
perfectly motionless body."

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