WEBVTT

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I know we have--

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[APPLAUSE]

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We're getting close
to Thanksgiving.

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I want to end on a
celebratory poem.

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And when-- my father
was born in Mexico.

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My mother was born in England.

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And when they had their first
Thanksgiving on the border,

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my mother made my
father a pecan pie.

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She accidentally used a cup of
salt instead of a cup of sugar.

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She was so proud of her pie.

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My father loved pecan pie and
when he came home, they just--

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this was their first
month of marriage,

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and she was so proud of this.

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And in those days, people
worked on holidays.

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I mean, my father came
home on Thanksgiving day

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and they had this
whole thing planned.

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And they're saving it.

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It's all centered
around this pie.

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And when he puts it in
his mouth, of course--

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my mother started to cry.

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My father put his
arm around her,

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took her back into the kitchen,
And they made another pie

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together that night, and then
they made pecan pies together

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for the whole rest
of their lives.

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Every year it grew.

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So by their heyday, they
were making 50 pies or so.

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[LAUGHTER]

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It's the rum, my
mother would say.

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[LAUGHTER]

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This is a poem about pies.

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Two sections, called
"Perfect for Any Occasion."

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One.

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"Pies have a reputation.

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And it's immediate.

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No talk of potential
regarding a pie.

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It's good or it isn't.

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Right then, right there.

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Sweet, very sweet, blue and red.

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It can't go to junior college,
work hard for the grades,

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work two jobs on the side.

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It can't slowly build a
reputation and a growing client

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base.

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A pie gets one
chance and knows it.

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Wearing as makeup those
sparkling granules

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of sugar, as a collar those
diamond cutouts bespeaking Fair

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Day, felicity, contentment.

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I tell you everything
is great, says a pie.

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Great, and fun, and fine.

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And you smell nice,
too, someone says.

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A full pound of
round sound, all ahh.

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Pies live a life of applause."

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Two.

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"But then there
are the other pies.

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The leftover pies.

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The ones nobody chooses
at Thanksgiving.

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Mincemeat?

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What the hell is
that, people ask,

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pointing instead at a
double helping of Mr.

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I- can- do- no- wrong pecan pie.

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But the unchosen pies
have a long history, too.

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They have plenty of good
stories, places they've been.

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They were once fun, too.

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But nobody wants to
listen to them anymore.

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Oh sure, everybody
used to love lard.

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But things have changed,
brother, things have changed.

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That's never the end of
the story, of course.

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Some pies make a break for it.

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Live underground for a
while, doing what they can,

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talking fast, trying to be
sweet pizzas, if they're lucky.

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But no good comes of it.

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Nobody is fooled.

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A pie is a pie
for one great day.

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Last week, it was Jell-O.
Tomorrow, it'll be cake."

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Congratulations
to the MFA Program

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at University of Arizona.

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[APPLAUSE]

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And thank you all
for being here.

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