WEBVTT

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I guess the next two of
these are going to be--

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I'll say that they are probably
inspired for me to read tonight

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by Theresa, we had a
conversation last night

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about list poems
and if I've ever

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written a poem for a particular
audience, and I told her

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I had not really ever
thought about that,

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but in fact, I have and I'll
read one of those pieces.

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But this one is an audience
participation poem.

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I wrote it, so I
did my job, so if I

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can get you guys to help me
out, that would be real cool.

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The first word is amen.

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Amen.

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All right, all right.

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We'll get there.

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Next word is hallelujah.

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Hallelujah.

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All right, the next
boomshakalakalaka boom boom

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boom.

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Boomshakalakalaka boom boom.

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All right, all right,
all right, I always

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have to give people
these instructions,

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I realize that we have a lot
of Catholics in the audience,

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you know what I'm saying, and a
lot of other religions really,

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and some people have RDD,
rhythm deficit disorder,

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and that's all right, I'm
cool, I understand that.

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I'm just letting you
know, if you get stuck,

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you cross your legs,
you do a Mudra,

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and you call on Mabel, which
is that big Black Pentecostal

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woman that sits at the
middle of everybody,

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saying maybe I'll hook a
brother, hook a sister up,

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she will be there
to help you out.

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She usually shows up wearing
the body of Aretha Franklin,

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so if you need some help.

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This is called
"All Praises Due."

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I guess it's a rant upon
living near Cambridge, which

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is really easy to do when
you live near Cambridge

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and dealing with a lot
of stuff happening there.

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So it's a poem that
probably offends everybody.

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All right.

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It's "All Praises Due,"
you guys know what to do.

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All praises due to lonely
women at home breastfeeding

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their babies while their
men come other places

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and play poet.

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Who forgive them for
trying to find themselves

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in crowds of strangers.

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All praises due to
the United States flag

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frame like American Gothic in
the rear windows of Beamers

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and Hyundais.

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All praises due to
the lost chord which

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will come in midnight
visitation to a child, fear her

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into music and madness
as she attempts

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to manifest what she's heard.

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All praises due to our
mamas, and our mama's

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thighs that brought
us here, what

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it looked like, what it is, what
it be like, what's the best,

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let the church say Amen.

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Amen.

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Let the church say hallelujah.

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Hallelujah.

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Let the church say
boomshakalakalaka boom boom

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boom.

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Boomshakalakalaka

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There we go.

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Boom boom boom.

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All praises due to
misogynist lesbians,

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wet t-shirt wearing feminists,
crack smoking clergymen, chain

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smoking vegetarians,
and ignorant professors

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with their heads up
the asses of tenure.

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All praises due to the unshaven
poet with liberating metaphors

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trapped in his beard to end
Sexton's and Sylvia Plath's

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menses, whispering shamanic
prophecies of death

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and deliverance, and to
pagers and cell phones,

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smart enough to turn themselves
off at a poetry reading.

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What it looked like,
what it is, what

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it be like, what's the best,
let the church say Amen.

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Amen.

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Let the church say hallelujah.

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Hallelujah.

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Let the church say
boomshakalakalaka boom boom

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boom.

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Boomshakalakalaka
boom boom boom.

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Reluctant praise goes out to
bullets whose unfathomable

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ignorance killed John
Lennon but fucked up and let

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Reagan die of natural causes.

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To elections that
steal themselves

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while we sleep in
fits of naked grace,

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to the pimps with broken hearts,
to the hearts that broke down

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pimps, to Rice Krispies
that scream kiss

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my ass when told to
snap crackle or pop.

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And to corn flakes that
know how to stay crunchy

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no matter how white the milk.

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What it looked like,
what it is, what

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it be like, what's the best,
let the church say Amen.

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Amen.

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Let the church say hallelujah.

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Hallelujah.

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Let the church say
boomshakalakalaka boom boom

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boom.

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Boomshakalakalaka
boom boom boom.

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All praises due to a
lover's tongue finding

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sanctuary in the inner
bend of your left elbow,

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to daughters nestled in the cold
round oval of a left testicle,

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to the bumper sticker that read
God said Nietzsche is dead,

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feminists are sexy, Jesus
would really kick your ass,

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and did you know that
most people happen

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by accident less than
five miles away from home,

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all praises due.

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All praises due to Philip Glass
to, Philip Glass to, Philip

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Glass to, Philip Glass
to, Philip Glass,

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Glass, Glass, Glass, Glass.

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And to asses so big they suck
all the oxygen out of the room.

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And to breasts so
small they demand

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that a man look into a woman's
eyes when she's talking to him.

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All praises due, all praises
due for my son, Jordan,

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and for condoms that break
when they're supposed to.

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And for all words still
finding the compassion

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to love us, even
after we turn them

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into shit poems like this
one, what it looked like,

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what it is, what it be
like, what's the best,

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let the church say Amen.

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Amen.

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Let the church say hallelujah.

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Let the church say
boomshakalakalaka boom boom

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boom.

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Boomshakalakalaka
boom boom boom.

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Thank you.

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Should I read one more?

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Or you also--

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Just a fun piece, you know.

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