WEBVTT

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Someone said to me that,
talked about poetry,

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and I tried to make
very clear that I

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believe poetry can
be fun, but that

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doesn't mean I'm not serious.

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I am very serious.

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Anyway, this is
another poem like that.

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It's called "What
the Mirror Said."

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Now, I like to think of
this as my truth gauge poem.

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And the reason is that I've
read it at a lot of places

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and I often preface it by
saying, how many people here

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have not been satisfied when
they got up in the morning,

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and looked in their
mirror, and they were not

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thrilled with what they saw?

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And generally, women
will all say, yes.

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And the men say, never.

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And I think that has something
to do with relative honesty

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of women and men.

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What?

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I don't know.

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What?

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I don't know.

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Could be.

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It was also written.

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So it was written
on a day like that.

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It was also written.

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At a time, my husband
used to teach at Harvard.

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I was so impressed.

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I just thought that was the
one most wonderful thing.

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And I used to go visit
him because he'd commute.

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And I was standing in
Harvard Square one day,

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and I looked around.

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Now, most of you may not
have gotten to this place.

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I looked around, all the
females, but me, were 18.

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And everybody I saw was a girl.

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And I was and am
definitely a woman.

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And so I want to
think about that.

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This is that kind of poem.

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I looked in the mirror.

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I thought, oh, my god.

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And this is what
the mirror said back

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to me to get me through a day.

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It's called "What
the Mirror Said."

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Listen, you a wonder,
you a city of a woman,

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you got a geography of your own.

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Listen, somebody need a
map to understand you.

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Somebody need directions
to move around you.

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Listen, woman, you not a
no place anonymous girl.

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Mister with his hands
on you, he got his hands

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on some damn body.

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[LAUGHTER]

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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That gets you through
a good day and a half.

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[LAUGHTER]