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And I'll finish with one poem,
a poem called "Coming Back."

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It has a companion poem
called "Relationship,"

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which uses the term "guttural
lyric," which I use,

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which actually is a
section of this book

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and is used in this poem.

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"Coming Back"-- you try to dust
off this ghostly complexion,

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as if erasing a blackboard upon
which the word "forever" had

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been written.

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It's no use.

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I kept thinking the
spotlight would cleanse me,

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like water from a cliff.

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I thought the hands
I passed through

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would be seen soiled
and waving far behind.

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It is difficult to find
in the dingiest hallway

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the moment that echoes purely
the architect's design.

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I knock on the door.

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And how many eyes
wander from the page,

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as if in that faint
unrecognizable sound,

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the unexpected still lingers,
love or death or simply

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the apologetic stranger
come to say goodbye?

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It's just me, surprised
at the ease of confession,

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at its guttural
lyric, at the faith

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of the shadow with
which I touch hands

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in an exchange of dimensions.

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You try to dust off this ghostly
complexion, but all that's left

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is the ghost.

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And neither of us
can give it up.

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[APPLAUSE]

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