WEBVTT

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Well there's something a
little bit more concrete.

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The next poem is
called Holy Ghost

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and it's written largely
for my own satisfaction.

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It's based on an elaborate
pun concerning Horace Greeley.

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Who as you may know, founded
the New-York Tribune early

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in the 19th century.

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And Horace was quite
an eccentric man,

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eccentric looking, eccentric
acting and a social reformer.

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In any case, he
had two nicknames.

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One was hod and
the other, the one

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I'm concerned with was ghost.

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Also his wife who appears
here in the poem was-- well

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they didn't get along very well.

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But of course, this was in
the days long before divorce.

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In any case, you don't
have to know any of that.

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I hope to enjoy the
poem but I thought

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I'd at least insert
that level of it.

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He also by the way,
referenced in the first line,

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helped compile dictionaries.

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The man the Holy Ghost.

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The man who compiles
dictionaries,

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writes travel pieces.

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Likes to see a farmer
out mowing or pitching

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hay in his shirtsleeves.

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While behind him
his bonded his wife,

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is upstairs in the wavering
candle of the farmhouse.

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Slashing mattresses,
yelling like a searchlight.

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Throwing saucers and pictures
out the window in a rage

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because she can't
be the Holy Ghost.

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To that man, he's the
baseball player of the plains.

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A preacher who through
his labors all day,

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is his own best sermon.

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And while he proceeds,
proceeds into town

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burying his future history.

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Swatches of newspaper clippings
stuffed in his pocket.

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He dreams of the
clod hopper coming

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around the door of the barn.

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With an armload of martingales.

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As usual, his face
forlorn at the prospect

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to confront the
wandering bulbous horses.

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Who look at him disappointed,
about to think of the answer

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to a crossword puzzle.

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Of him, reaching over to
pinch his wife at night

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and making her really
scream like a mush

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entering the turmoil of sunset.

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Nevertheless, it's
too late as he

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rolls out the plans
gathered above the tavern

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with the obsequious
County commissioners.

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In his head, he doesn't see the
farmer joined behind the corn

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crib by his six stalwart sons.

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All chewing tobacco and
looking just like him.

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New planets that wobble
out of the pine trees.

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Armed, strangled his sisters.

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