WEBVTT

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I always say, poetry readings
when the poet doesn't at least

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tell some stories--
but this is a poem

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I couldn't think of
any introduction to it.

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So I'll at least locate it.

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Somebody is
sitting-- the speaker

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is sitting in front
of a window, watching

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the passing scene in a city.

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It's called "Last Light,"
and it's for Tina Feingold.

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"Before picking up the
knife, I stared out

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the window at the street.

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Neutral, dull, until a woman
passed leading a funny red dog,

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her lips pursed in a
whistle I could not hear.

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Just one kiss, I thought,
through her belly to the bones

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and the organs
barely kept in place.

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I held my breath.

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The woman turned
the corner and I

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opened the window to follow
the trail over the red roofs.

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Then I was alone again.

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Some last light caught
the knife's blade--

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caught up in its strength--

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and quivered three times.

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All the others in
the city, I thought,

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walk off their murders
with their little dogs,

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and I sit by the
window taking notes.

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Something went wrong.

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I was left numb.

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A brain blind in a damp
cell, far from the heart."

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