WEBVTT

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This is a poem that's
funny also but it

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gets kind of serious at times.

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And it's called "Art is Poetic."

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And that was kind of
posturing on my part.

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Art is poetic,
the art of poetry.

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This is what I think poetry is.

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And it's true in
the sense that--

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is the sense of
revelation of self

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and how much can one reveal.

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How important it is
to reveal yourself,

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to be vulnerable with
people you care about.

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But what are the
boundaries to that.

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And-- but really the poem should
be called something like truth

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or dare or--

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I forget.

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I had another title for it.

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So there's some
people, after dinner,

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playing the game of telling--

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most embarrassing stories.

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That's what it should be called.

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And there are some people named
who are sitting right here.

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[LAUGHTER]

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"We already had a
few glasses of wine

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and the woman wanted to
go first so eagerly she

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raised her hand like a sixth
grade girl, composed herself

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and began.

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This was years ago
I was taking a plane

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from San Francisco to Boise
and I got stuck in the toilet.

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I couldn't unglue myself.

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I kept banging on the door until
the stewardess came and yanked

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hard on my arm, nothing.

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And pretty soon there
was a small line

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of passengers curious,
horrified, then amused.

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Then wanting to be
helpful, each of them

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giving a big yank, and nothing.

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And me getting more and more
than less and less embarrassed.

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Then some good soul
brought me a glass of wine.

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Lunch arrived on a tray.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Then they begun to pull again
ripping each other's hands

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in an uneven tug of war.

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They were chatting, tipsy,
getting to know each other,

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forgetting my predicament.

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I could hear them telling their
own most embarrassing stories.

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Then the clink of
glasses, laughter, and so

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on until we landed, Jesus.

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And a man in a worker's
uniform stepped gingerly

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onto the toilet around
my bulging thighs

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with his excuse me, ma'am."

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By the way, this woman
because this happened to her

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they changed the way
they built in toilets.

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The whole compartment
was way too big.

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The toilet bowl
was separate parts.

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And because she got
stuck, all America

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changed how they
made their toilet.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I'm out of here.

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"And a man in the
worker's uniform

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stepped gingerly onto the
toilet around my bulging thighs

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with his excuse
me ma'am, staring

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and trying not to stare.

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And with a long screwdriver
undid the entire compartment,

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plastic walls, sink, the
toilet itself, and then pop,

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the suction released
and I was free.

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The sound must have
echoed through the plane

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because I heard this
terrific applause.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Stewardess, pilot, co-pilot,
passengers clapping and that

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was it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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And that was it.

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It was as though a balloon had
been suddenly blown up and just

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as suddenly deflated.

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She didn't seem embarrassed
but bashful rather.

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This middle aged woman,
plain, and pretty,

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and plainly dressed, seated
with her knees locked together

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like a newly pubescent girl
in a room full of adults.

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Then a long pause, a shifting
on the couches and the chairs.

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Then Ann screeched, the way
she does when she's confused.

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Then some Brandy, then Eric,
the mischievous psychiatrist,

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calls for another
story and I started.

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But in the middle,
Gail gave me that look

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that said the story was
more than embarrassing.

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Too much about to be revealed.

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So I stuttered to a stop.

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Inappropriate personal
disclosure, Max called it.

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And I laughed, unsure
suddenly of what exactly

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was appropriate.

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How open should
one be, and where

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was that line you crossed
at your own peril,

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and of what value
was the crossing?

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To make us feel more comfortable
in a conforming world

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or harmful, alienating,
casting a person out.

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The woman started up again.

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Her husband caught in bed with
a man prettier than she was.

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The search for the
missing tampon.

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The hotel garden in Prague.

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One story sliding into another
like someone who caught out

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confesses every sin,
every crime, even those

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she hasn't been accused of.

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And none among us
had the courage,

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if that is what it
was, to give back

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the dignity she had so eagerly
given away to say no more,

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that's all we need to know.

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That's all I've got, she said.

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Now she was blushing,
turning a bright red

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as though she had turned
herself completely inside out.

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As though she realized that
the telling of her own most

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embarrassing stories was itself
a most embarrassing story,

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someone would tell later
on her, and she wouldn't be

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there to sort of modulate it.

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She started to cry, really sob.

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Even so she looked
beautiful in that moment.

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Extraordinary, this
unprepossessing woman.

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Innocent in her way.

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Like a wet red infant
glowing on the couch the way

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we would have been
if we had no secrets.

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We who are still complex,
and secret, and proud."

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