WEBVTT

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Now, about this
time in the evening

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I like to read a poem dedicated
to my friend Tom Lynch.

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He's an undertaker.

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I think everyone should have
a friend who is an undertaker.

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And he kindly took me
around his funeral home

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in Milford, Michigan.

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And that was a singular delight.

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And I wanted to then write
about it, which I duly did.

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I wrote this very short poem,
which is a kind of riddle.

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Very simple riddle.

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And I read this poem recently
in a boys school in England.

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And I just thought
they were kind

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of losing their concentration.

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So I said look, here's
a competition for you.

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The first person who works
out what this poem is about

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gets a free book.

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And this is very patronizing
because they were smart.

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And it was also very stupid
because I was halfway

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through the first line and
somebody put their hand up.

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And I said, yes.

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And they told me the answer.

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I threw the book at him.

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I said, what in
God's name did you--

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because, you know, I hadn't even started the poem.

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He said, oh, well, you read that
poem last time you were here.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So no free books tonight.

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"Dead Wood," for Tom Lynch.

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"Huge, glossy beetles
doze in this room.

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Each with a lifted wing
case the size of a car door.

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They are only fed once then
close themselves with a click.

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Too heavy to fly in
their mahogany and oak.

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They have grown handles."

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[LAUGHTER]

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