WEBVTT

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This next one my
brother just had twins.

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Oh my God.

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Thank you.

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That's so nice of you.

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Yeah.

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Oh, cool.

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So great.

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Yeah, they're cute.

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The ungendered term for like a
niece or nephews is a nibbling,

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so I got two nibblings.

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And I've been writing a
sequence of poems for them.

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Yeah, like before
they were born.

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And when I told my brother I
was writing this he was like,

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OK, OK, just don't
do this one thing.

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And so that sort of
spawned this poem.

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I call it "For My Nibblings In
Anticipation Of Their Birth".

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My brother knowing my work
well asked I not include any

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references to semen in the
throat in this poem I'm writing

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you, so I shan't.

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Instead semen in the
books, semen in the leaves,

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semen in the ground that grows
the semen trees also known

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as the callery pear.

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Semen in the boat that
carried our family here.

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Semen in the waters
where we left our dead.

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Semen in the meadows
where we buried and bled.

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Semen in the light streaming
through the stained glass

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of our synagogue, the
image depicting an arc

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in an ocean of semen.

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Gossamer semen, octopus
semen, garden of semen.

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There are so many words for
you children and none of them

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are dirty, though not
all of them are yours.

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Now as you eat what your mother
eats, her fear is your fear,

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and this your world torn
and thrown to the birds.

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But still, the light
is thick in the trees.

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The callery pears
are loud this season,

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and my throat is bright
with flowers for you

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both, such beautiful flowers.

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I hardly have the words.

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Thank you.

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Yeah, so I read that to a
bunch of high schoolers today,

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and they loved it.

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I was thinking I would edit
what I read between two events,

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but I feel like everyone is
as adaptive and interested

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and interesting
as high schoolers.

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We should all like
to be so young.

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You know what I mean?

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Oh also they said I look 25, so.

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I know right?

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I do.

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