I wanted to read--
I have a lot of poems from the Bible.
I used to go a lot.
Oh, I'd like to read this.
And then, there are poems I would like to read sometimes,
and this, and then a series of poems about September 11th.
And then a last poem--
not a last poem, another later poem.
I haven't written my last poem yet.
It's my poem [INAUDIBLE] This is called "To my Last Period."
It's a poem that--
I always wanted to write poems for grown-ups.
And I have read this in lots of places,
and young men have said, what does that mean?
I have a girlfriend, but I've gone to Catholic churches
all my life.
And I didn't know that you could be like the lead in things.
And the periods, like, they-- aren't they
always around somewhere?
Well, yeah, but-- if he didn't know about this,
it would be better if he did, so I talked to him about it.
And we have been taught that this is the curse.
You know?
And I remember on Archie Bunker show one time,
Edith was saying--
so they said something about the curse.
And Edith said, my friend so-and-so
who has so many children, she calls it
the blessing, which I thought was really nice.
Anyway, "To my Last Period."
"Well, girl, goodbye.
After 38 years--
38 years, and you never arrived, splendid in your red dress,
without trouble for me somewhere, somehow.
Now it is done.
And I feel just like your grandmothers who,
after the hussy has gone, sit holding her photograph
and sighing, wasn't she beautiful?
Wasn't she beautiful?"
[LAUGHTER]
I didn't think so at the time.