WEBVTT

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"Dear Madam Secretary
of Homeland Security."

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"All day, the tatters of
a hurricane blow overhead,

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black swaths of thunder
and slicing rain,

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marble swirls of cloud.

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Grass brightens
against the gray.

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Steers call back.

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A cardinal and his mate
worry through the possumhaw.

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On a fence post, she preens.

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She cocks her head and calls.

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He flits and glides, carrying
sunflower seeds from the picnic

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table to her orange beak,
and when the rains return,

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they thread their way further
into the ailanthus tree.

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The Ladies Birthday Almanac
warns, 'Weaning children

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should not be done when the moon
is in Sagittarius or Capricorn.

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Do not cut a nerve when
Mercury is afflicted.'

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Last night, I dreamed of
a porcelain dinner plate.

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I turned over small
bones, picking

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at caramel-colored meat, my
fork discovering the rust

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and gray tail feathers
of the female cardinal

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I'd been watching for days.

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I carried the plate to
the kitchen to accuse.

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The cook turned and threw her
dish rag, shaking her head,

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shouting to someone else as
she walked down the hall.

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My stomach grew sour and sore.

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Madam, do you ever
get the feeling

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there's something wrong
with how things are run?

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West Africans bury their
children by the dozen.

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Tropical depressions spiral
through the afternoon,

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and when the cardinal spits
out his high, hard song,

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are we responsible
to him as well?

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What a time then to be
an American in love.

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The Ladies Birthday
Almanac warns, 'Never

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plant under barren signs.

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Cut timber in the old of moon.'

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What a time then, Madam, to
feel the cool remorse of dusk

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when cornrows sway
uneasily in the backyard,

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when a bull's cry resembles
the sound of a branch when

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it breaks."

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]