WEBVTT

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So, you know, I thought that
I'd find this one poem that had

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these themes of China in it.

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But it turned out that
there were many poems

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by Billy Collins that
had this same theme.

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So in the end, I wrote
about a dozen rewrites

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of Billy Collins poems.

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And I'll just read one
or two more of those

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and then read some other
material from the collection.

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OK.

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This is ''Chinese Silence
Number Four'', after Billy

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Collins' ''China''.

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I am a cicada floating
in a coffee cup

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on the desk of
the poet laureate.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Grant proposals
are being written.

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Many bottles of Napa
wine are emptied.

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But even when his
nodding head strikes

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the desk like a
bobbing Buddha's, I

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lurk silently inside my mug.

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Chipped by the
teeth of Ezra Pound.

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[LAUGHTER]