WEBVTT

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Hello.

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Good evening.

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Thank you everyone
for being here.

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Thank you, Noah for
that and for Hannah--

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thank you, Hannah, for
that beautiful introduction

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and to everyone who
organized this event

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and brought it to be,
which includes all of you,

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includes everyone at
the Poetry Center,

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custodial staff, everyone.

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Yeah.

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I'm thankful to do my part
to make this event happen.

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I'm going to read two poems
from "Safe Space," which is--

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I feel really the book I should
be reading all the poems from.

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But I'm like a child and this
is a toy that I had 5 years ago.

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And it's-- I love it.

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It's in my room.

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It's one of my favorites.

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I'd be very upset if
my dad threw it away.

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But these are my new toys and
I want to show you these ones.

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So I encourage you to
enjoy this one too.

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But-- "Home State."

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U may not know this
about me, but I grew up

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a gay baby in the United
States of America.

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The United States was
a then briefly lived

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conceptual project performed
by pop artist John Baldessari.

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Children were a primary
form of currency and u

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would often see them on beaches
or in strip malls advertising

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diet books and
drinking espresso.

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On a typical day in
the United States,

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people would send each
other text messages

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like what chemicals
are in ur body today.

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In the United States, u could
always say sexualize my crisis

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in the right poem.

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It's hard to believe,
but to this day,

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they still high-five each
other in the United States.

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Once when exchanging
my brother's

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favorite pathology for a pair
of Cirque Du Soleil tickets,

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I saw a t-shirt that
said a hole is a hole

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is a hole in Fort
Myers, Florida.

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