WEBVTT

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All right.

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This is for the students.

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I'm not alone in just general
fear of the future, right?

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Actually, this is
just for all of us.

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I think we can all
generally fear the future.

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I feel like this is
not actually, like,

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a student thing.

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This is a life thing now.

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When I visited the
class today, they

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went around and said their
majors, and a couple of people

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said "undecided,"
and I said, "Me too--

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still."

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We're all just figuring it out.

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So this poem is called "Future."

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It's a nonet, and
the question is,

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just a typical running
errands question--

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"What is the future?"

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Everything that
hasn't happened yet,

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the future is
tomorrow and next year

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and when you're old but
also in a minute or two,

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when I'm through answering.

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The future is nothing
I imagined as a child--

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no jetpacks, no
conveyor belt sidewalks,

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no bell-jarred cities at
the bottom of the sea.

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The trick of the future
is that it's empty,

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a cup before you pour the water.

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The future is a waiting
cup, and for all it knows,

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you'll fill it
with milk instead.

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You're thirsty.

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Every minute carries you
forward, conveys you,

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into a space you fill.

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I mean the future
will be full of you.

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It's one step beyond the
step you're taking now.

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What you'll say next
until you say it.