WEBVTT

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This poem is called
"Teacup This."

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To my young daughter,
I sing the songs

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my mother sang to me, which is
to say, to my young daughter,

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I sing an eclectic selection
of breakup tunes of the '60s

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and '70s.

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[LAUGHTER]

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(SINGING) I should have
known you'd bid me farewell.

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There's a lesson to
be learned in this,

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and I learned it very well.

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Now I know you're not the
only starfish in the sea.

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If I never hear your name
again, it's all the same to me.

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That does not seem
right to sing to a baby.

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[LAUGHTER]

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But here I am, and here she
is, bed sprawled and blessed

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and so perhaps,
like the starfish,

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yes, one creature of more
than the world requires.

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As I am unceasingly reminded
by pamphlet mandates, blanket

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labels, alerts to lay her always
up, it's awful to be a person.

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That's why, from my
lovers, I've always

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demanded to know what
kind of a dog I would be,

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were I ever a dog.

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And don't say "teacup
this," "toy that."

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Don't pick a dog that must
travel all over stuffed

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in a bag like a filthy magazine.

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Don't take it
lightly when I say,

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of all the men I've been
with, there are only a few

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I never would allow
to hold my child.

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I consider this a triumph.

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