WEBVTT

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OK, another prose poem
about, I saw a sign

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that said photocopy class.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I don't know what
they're going to teach,

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but the poem is called,

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"Save the Originals."

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"For the entrance
exam, we have to match

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TV static to a daisy field.

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After years of practice,
books and rocks near and far,

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it's a breeze.

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At orientation, those with
fluctuating weight or braces

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are pulled aside.

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Not ready.

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We who will eventually copy have
chosen one hairstyle and smile

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and stuck to it.

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We have the class
photos to prove it.

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Still, we're not allowed
near the machines for weeks.

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The equals sign
on the blackboard

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grows four boxes of chalk thick.

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Pale sandwiches pile
up in our lockers.

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Then one day, we're told
to take a left at the water

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fountain instead of a right,
and we're in the copy room.

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I don't fiddle with the dials.

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I make a copy.

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I like him immediately.

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He looks like me, but
with darker circles

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under his my eyes, a
more pronounced scar

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on his my cheek.

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When I look up,
I see that Sylvia

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has made herself three
copies at 10%, 35% and 75%.

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A Sylvia crescendo.

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I feel a hand on
my back, and then I

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don't look at
anyone else anymore.

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For the first few
nights we stay up late.

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We are each other's perfect hug.

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He's thoughtful and helpful,
my shadow with a shuffle.

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He plumps the sofa cushions,
feeds the goldfish.

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I can tell from the
way he studies splash

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and splish that he thinks
splash is the original

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and splish is the copy.

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How sweet, I think.

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One day via the hallway mirror,
I watch as he transfers splash

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into a jam jar, then lets a
golden handful of fish flakes

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fall gently into the
bowl holding only splish.

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I'm at a distance, but
I know which is which.

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The next night, my red scarf
is missing from the front hall

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and so is he.

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My phone rings.

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The soprano has the flu and
the understudy is performing.

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He's at the opera, we all are."

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