WEBVTT

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This is the poem, I'll read a
short poem called "Swan Song".

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Which is the poem that Lois
used to advertise the reading.

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There's a lovely drawing
that went with it.

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The woman who did it
was going to do leopard.

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I don't know why she's was
going to do leopard to advertise

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the Swag Song.

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But this is based on
Lamarckian notion of evolution

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rather than the Darwinian.

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And as I understand
it, in my ignorance,

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as opposed to some mythical,
gradual, unrecognizable method

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of development in
the Lamarck theory

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there's a radical change.

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And it's an act of will.

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So if you're not satisfied,
and I'm popularizing it,

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with your position you
can out of sheer will

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change it into something else.

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So in this poem,
there's a vision

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of swans not liking
what they were

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and wanting to convert
to another condition.

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So they're a Lamarckian swan.

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I wrote this one remembering
a scene in Vienna that

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had a swan spot in the roses.

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I just have swan [INAUDIBLE].

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"A bunch of old snakeheads
down by the pond carrying

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on the swan tradition.

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Kissing inside
their white bodies,

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raising and lowering their
heads like ostriches.

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Regretting only
the sad ritual that

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forced them to waddle back
into the water after their life

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under the rock.

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Wishing they could
slither again,

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as they did in the old days.

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Wishing they could lie again in
the sun and dream of spreading

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their terrifying wings.

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Wishing this time,
they could sail

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through the sky like horses.

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Their tails rigid, their
white mane fluttering,

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their mouths open, their
sharp teeth splashing,

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drops of mercy pouring
from their eyes.

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Bolts of wisdom from
their foreheads."

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