WEBVTT

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So this is the last poem.

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It's such an honor to
be here, and I really

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appreciate all of you coming.

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I'm so astounded and
grateful to be reading

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with Dean Young, who is an
amazing poet and just as

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amazing human being.

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This is called "History Lesson".

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Back before singing was
a new kind of screaming.

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Back before the equinox
balanced the egg.

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Back before the back before,
the lemon-ry and Sonia Kharkar's

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poem called "Matt Hart's Cat
Mao's Personal Poem 11 as sung

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by Sonia Kharkar."

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Back before the walls crumbled
like cookies and Melanie

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and I would sleep all
day then watch movies

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in a heap on the floor.

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Back before the
leaks, the canaries,

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the terrific broken toaster
that we've had (it seems)

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a hundred years.

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Toast your frozen waffle or
English muffin on one side,

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then turn it over
and toast it again.

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Back before dancing
and Dean Young,

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space travel and World
War I. Back before I

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skipped a lot of
interesting information

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as a means of
getting to the point.

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Back before the brain's damage.

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Back before my
falling out with Sean,

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my falling back
in with Christian,

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my unfathoms, my uncle.

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Back before the
vividry, with thanks

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to Ethan Paquin for friendship
and sonic boom, the burning

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gloom, brother, the book
for unwavering faith.

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Back before revelated,
a word I made up

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meaning, one, intense,
spontaneous and illuminated

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revelry, two, a state
of elated revelation,

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three, galvanization, four,
revolution with a smile.

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Back before in the day
when rappers delighted.

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Back beyond the back
beyond, the eight or nine

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or 10 great students.

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Back before the
death of Dave Otis,

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my friend of bright lights,
big city heroin face.

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Back before the scam in Iraq.

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Behind the bar of huffing glue.

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Back before the back
brain stimulants,

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bad brain depressants and
all-night mood swings.

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Back in black in fashion and
style, in a sentimental mood.

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Back before back teeth aching
in high pressure systems.

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Back before the invention
of the nuclear wheel.

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Back under the knife for
a repeat performance.

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Back under the knife for
a repeat performance.

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Back before vaudeville,
before noumena,

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before night flights
and Crockpots.

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Before drinking and
breaking up at 4:00 AM.

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Before story problems.

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Before my father rushing
headlong into eternity's death

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suit, three buttons on the
front and a rose in his pocket.

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Back before I was a liar, my
soul functioning perfectly.

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Back before you kissed me
on the mouth at Ocean Beach.

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Back before the ocean's beach
and Richard Diebenkorn's

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painting of coffee.

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Back before I wrote
this poem and also

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that song that gets played
on the radio in Spain.

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Back before the tribe
splintered, thus beginning

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the never-ending death of us.

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Oh, killing.

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Oh, softly.

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Oh, Roberta.

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Oh, Flack.

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Back before the
Black liberationist

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jumpsuits of Gil Scott-Heron.

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Back before the first
time I told you so.

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Before the lights
went down at the movie

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about brain-eating zombies.

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Before you missed your plane
and I missed my arrival.

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Before the hydraulic soul gave
up and gave out and drifted

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away humming beauty, beauty,
oh, where have you gone?

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Before Black Beauty.

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Before Over the Rainbow.

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Before I had any clue how good
Gregory Corso is, who said man

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is the victory of the world
but also that all of us

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are replicas.

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Back before I sent the
letter to Alex Lemon saying,

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care about something deeply and
then demonstrate those depths.

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It's how we make our experience
richer, our world bigger,

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our limits disappear.

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Back before he wrote back
saying he'd quote me.

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Back before I started writing
the same poem repeatedly

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because I keep saying
it and saying it

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but nobody ever hears me.

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Or, they hear me and
think I'm an idiot goon

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or for some reason I'm kidding.

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I'm not kidding.

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I love everybody.

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I have high, high expectations.

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And often I'm so
disappointed I want

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to stop hurting at the core
of the stupid, hot earth.

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Back before idiots ruled
the stupid, hot earth.

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Back before the vast
and void and vavoom.

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Vavoom.

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Back before the sidecar
of the funny car, before

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nitroglycerin.

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Back before the fruit bat,
the tree house, the ice cream

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truck, the rabbit.

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Back before it all
began and we were

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comfortable and
uncomfortable and alive

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in our shoes, which
carried us forward

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to eternity's drool toy to
the moment when everything

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goes blank or black and
white or sticky and sweet.

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Back before us a long time
ago, there was probably

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a huge guffaw in the
firmament, a laughter

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so violent the sky shook and
everything started aright,

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but somehow also got
off on the wrong foot.

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And some dude in a room
pushing buttons or drugs

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said, I knew how to handle
this yesterday, but now what?

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[LAUGHTER]