WEBVTT

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We went horseback riding at
the tennis resort, at least

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a few of us.

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And my first experience
was two summers ago

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at a dude ranch, of all things.

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And the first day was
terrible, because we

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got on the wrong ride.

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You know that story.

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And we went on with these people
who knew how to ride horses,

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and they were just running
all over the place.

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And I was in the
back just hanging on.

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And my wife was right
next to the leader,

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way up to the front, and
I couldn't get over it.

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And so finally, about 20 minutes
later, really 20 minutes,

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I caught up to her.

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And she was in a state of shock.

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The horse had run away with her.

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And she had her
arm slashed open,

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and her hands were bleeding,
and her eyes were in that daze.

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And it was really
pretty terrible.

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And when I got her back
she had terrible bruises,

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so purple they were black.

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But it turned out, it
was a wonderful vacation.

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She rested that day and
very courageously got back

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on the horse and the next day
with gloves and socks wrapped

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around her thighs.

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See, this is not supposed to--

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I have this trouble this whole
week trying not to be funny.

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So anyhow, I wrote a
serious poem about this

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called, "Learning to Ride."

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"Learning to Ride-- my wife
hung on to the runaway horse

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clutching the reins
until her hands

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bled, her feet trying to grip
the stirrups through her shoes.

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On the fresh sheet, on the bed
in the cabin we had rented,

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I spread her legs to inspect
the black and purple bruises

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on the insides of her thighs.

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That night, her
blistered hands were so

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tender she could
not touch me as I

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tried to guide my penis
without touching her legs.

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She was still frightened.

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I didn't know whether the
moans meant pleasure or pain.

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And when she saw my eyes crazed
by both power and desire,

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she laid there,
hands at her sides,

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realizing the true
distances between us.

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I was afraid our
vacation was over.

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I was afraid a child conceived
that night would bear

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the birthmark of her bruises.

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But the next day, she was up
on the horse, kicking it sides,

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and pulling back on the reins.

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And the month later, she
bled, wiping her wet thighs

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as if erasing a bruise.

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Her hands so calloused,
something wild in me

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knelt and waited."

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