WEBVTT

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This is a New York City poem.

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I think probably 2/3 of my
poems are about New York City.

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Half?

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I don't know.

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This is a poem called the
Writings of the Mystics.

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In the neighborhood
where I lived

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in New York, which is near
NYU, East 13th Street and 4th

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Avenue, in those days, there
were a lot of used bookstores.

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And there was a famous one
called Wiser, that specialized

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in occult literature.

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And two floors, there
was even a basement.

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You went down these steps,
and you pull the string,

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and looked at the shelves
and you could see something.

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Egyptian secrets-- How
to Become Invisible.

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[LAUGHTER]

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That's-- a lot of trash, I
mean, of two or three centuries.

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But also some really
very good books.

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So this is me in the
late 50s in this poem,

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the Writings of the Mystics.

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"On the counter, among many
much-used books, the rare wine

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you must own
immediately, the one

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that makes your heart race
as you wait for small change

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with a foolish grin
you'll take to the street,

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and later pass the land lady,
watching you wipe your shoes.

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Then up to the
rented room, which

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neighbors the one of a
nightclub waitress, who

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is shaving her legs with
the door partly open,

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while you turn to
the first page,

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which speaks of a presentiment
of a higher existence

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in things familiar and drab.

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In a building soon to
be torn down, suddenly,

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hushed and
otherworldly, you find

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yourself whispering
your own name

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in the words of the
hermit, since it

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must be past dinnertime--

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the one they ate quickly, happy
that your small portion went

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to the three-legged dog.

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