WEBVTT

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I wrote a series of poems.

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Do you know who Cleo Laine is?

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Cleo Laine is a singer.

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She can sing so good.

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And I was at home and
I was being depressed.

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People think I never get
depressed, but I-- my kids

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will tell you.

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And when I'm depressed,
I am depressed.

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I mean, I don't play.

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And I was being
really depressed.

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And I was-- and then, I
started listening to the music.

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And Cleo Laine
was singing a song

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called "The Streets of London."

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Do you know that?

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And she was singing the lines.

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So how can you tell
me you're lonely

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and that for you the
sun never shines?

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Let me take you by
the hand and lead you

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through the streets of London.

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I can show you something that
will make you change your mind.

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And I thought about my
poor little depression.

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And I felt so tacky.

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And so I started--

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I wrote a poem.

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And then, I started
writing some other poems.

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And they all are
prefaced by their dreams.

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So it's my dream about
this, my dream about that.

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I'd like to read
a couple of them.

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I'd like to say, though, that I
have never dreamed any of this,

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OK?

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I'll read two.

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One is called "My
Dream About Time."

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One of the things I noticed
is that, when I was little,

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my mother told me if I was
good, all the right stuff

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would happen for me.

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And I was very good.

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And a lot of the right
stuff did not happen.

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And I thought that
was a big drag.

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And I have a poem in
another book that says,

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it seems like some Black
people missed out more than all

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the time.

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This is called "My
Dream About Time."

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A woman, unlike
myself, is running down

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the long haul of
a lifeless house

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with too many windows,
which open on a world she

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has no language for.

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Running and running
until she reaches

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at last the one and only door,
which she pulls open to find

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each wall is faced with clocks.

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And as she watches, all
of the clocks strike no.

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