WEBVTT

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Let me read a poem
called "Yuletide."

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I lived-- when I first
moved to Chicago--

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in an area near the lake,
and I'd walk my dog at night,

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and I'd meet
prostitutes who were

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walking their dogs at night.

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And I got to be
friendly with them.

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And I remember one
time when I told her

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I taught at Loyola
University, which

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was right down the
street, she said something

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about midnight mass.

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And there was an urge--

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instant urge but fleeting--

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to take her to
midnight mass with me.

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Except that I thought my
colleagues who were always

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there might not understand.

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So I did write a poem called
"Yuletide," and it uses--

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the first line of
the poem, it's a line

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from Philip Booth's book, but it
has no meaning as far as that.

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No meaning in my poem.

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"Yuletide."

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"Any available light was
reflected in my dog's eyes.

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No particular star
on that Christmas.

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Last year after year when love
and trust seemed as simple

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as the language of
the name she came

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to when I called her away
from licking the idle hand

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of a woman one Christmas.

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That night I met a
prostitute on the street.

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It should have been easy.

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I had money, and she said
my dog could come up.

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But I didn't understand.

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The thought of buying her a meal
or a goddamn Christmas, tree

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believe it or not.

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I met a prostitute on the street
and wanted her to be an angel.

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But I had never seen an
angel so Black and beautiful.

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All she wanted was my money.

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I was so horny and
filled with charity.

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It should have been so easy.

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If I were to create a
holiday making up songs

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to fill that silent
night year after year,

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I would make that
prostitute its saint.

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And money, the gifts of wise
men and dumb men far and near.

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And if she were to
conceive that night--

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despite the pills and
foam and douches--

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a child, I would
celebrate abandonment.

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A holiday for unknown
fathers and all the children

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without real names.

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I met an angel on the street.

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I gave my money for my love.

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The stars confused
me, led me everywhere.

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But I gave my
money for my love."

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