WEBVTT

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[APPLAUSE]

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Now I'll read through my
second poem about basketball,

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and it's a villanelle.

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And it's like a
villanelle, because I

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was trying to think of how
to write a poem about it

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by Michael Jordan, when he
beat Utah in his last game,

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and he beat them so quick,
he beat them in 41 seconds.

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So he beat them in 41 seconds,
just turned the whole thing

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around and beat them-- he
looked like an old man, and all

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of a sudden, in 41
seconds, he killed them.

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And I think Malone has--
he has never forgotten it,

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and it's getting shot.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So I couldn't think--

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so I couldn't think
of something that

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could be fit in 41 seconds,
because a tanka and a haiku

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is too short, and a
sonnet is too controlling.

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And then, because of the
fact that Michael Jordan--

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it was like a recurring line in
people's lives for six years.

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So I thought the villanelle was
a nice one, because it's got--

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it's got that refrain that
runs through-- those refrains.

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So this is called "Forty-one
Seconds on a Sunday in June

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in Salt Lake City, Utah," and
it's a different kind of poem,

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but it's about basketball--

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for Michael Jordan.

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"Rising up in time,
Michael Jordan

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hangs like an icon, suspended
in space, cocks his right arm,

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fires a jump shot for two,
the title game on the line.

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His eyes, two radar
screens screwed like nails

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into the mask of his face, bore
in on the basket, gaze focused.

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A thing of beauty, no shadow,
or trace, no hint of fear,

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in this, his showplace, his
ultimate place to shine.

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Rising up in time,
Michael Jordan

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hangs like an icon,
suspended in space,

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after he has moved from
baseline to baseline, sideline

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to sideline.

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His coalface shining,
wagging his tongue,

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he dribbles through
chaos, snaking serpentine.

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His eyes, two radar
screens screwed like nails

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into the mask of his face, he
bolts a flash up the court,

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takes off, floats in for two
more in this race for glory.

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It is his time, what he
was put on earth for,

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he can see the headline.

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Rising up in time,
Michael Jordan

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hangs like an icon,
suspended in space.

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Inside his imagination, he feels
the moment he will embrace,

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knows his place is written here.

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Inside this quickening pace
of nerves, he will define.

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His eyes, two radar
screens screwed like nails

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into the mask of his face.

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Inside this moment, he
will rule on his own terms.

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Quick as a cat, he
interfaces time.

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Victory and glory, as he
crosses over his dribble.

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He is king of this shrine.

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Rising up in time,
Michael Jordan

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hangs like an icon,
suspended in space.

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His eyes, two radar
screens screwed like nails

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into the mass of his face."

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[APPLAUSE]

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