This was a poem that also relies on two lines of another poem.
In this case, it's really the first two lines of his poem.
It's not a nice thing to do to just take the first two
lines of someone's poem and rewrite it for them,
but I was driven to do that because I thought
this poem needed to be updated, or changed,
or revised in some way.
Because this poet who will not be named right now was--
I looked at the contributor's notes
after I'd stolen his first lines and it just
said that he lives in Belgium, which
I thought that's safe enough.
[LAUGHTER]
[INAUDIBLE]
But he wrote this love poem and it's based on the assumption
that the thing that really drives women crazy
is if you compare them to things like stars, or trees,
or running water, anything in nature [INAUDIBLE]..
But women, they love similies more than themselves.
So he begins his poem by saying "beloved, you
are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet and the wine.
"Litany."
"You are the bread and the knife, the crystal goblet
and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
You are the white apron of the baker and the marsh bird
suddenly in his flight.
However, you are not the wind of the orchard,
the plums on the counter, or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not pine-scented air.
There is no way you are the pine-scented air.
It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge, maybe
even the pigeon on the general's head.
But you are not even close to being the field of corn flowers
at dusk.
A quick look in the mirror will show that you are neither
the boots in the corner or the boat asleep in its boat house.
It might interest you to know, speaking of the plentiful
imagery of the world, that I am the sound of rain on the roof.
I also happen to be a shooting star, the evening paper flying
down an alley, and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table,
and also the moon in the trees and the blind woman's teacup.
But don't worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife.
Not to mention, the crystal goblet and, somehow, the wine."
[APPLAUSE]