WEBVTT

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All right.

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One last more, and then and
I can step aside, hydrate,

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wipe some sweat off.

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One of the things that's
so tricky about doing

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so much of this work is its
weight and how much it takes--

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and takes from us as readers,
as archivists, as researchers,

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as humans trying to
exist in this world.

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It's not easy.

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So I thought about
ending tonight

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with that poem from
Juan Felipe and also

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the title poem from my book.

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I always think about how we
can save a little for ourselves

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to have that fight, that
energy for tomorrow.

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Thank you so much.

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It's an honor to be
here with you all.

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"Borderland Apocrypha."

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Also, before I start,
it's also an honor

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to be here alongside my
life-long partner, Mai Der.

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I love you.

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"If your father tells you,
and your teacher tells you,

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and the pastor at
your family's church

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tells you to perceive breath
for existing, heart for source,

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grave as final voices,
kingdom and the shaking

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as the escape of
the Earth's heat,

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you believe the repetition.

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But don't.

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Believe that earthquakes are
fed by the buried, shoulders

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leaning in and sinewed by the
unseen, combative to covert.

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Recall that beneath
you nothing is still.

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Recall that beneath
you are the others.

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Know there is no
such thing as living.

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Living is a birth
to control you,

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to fear no longer being
present, to fear "this,"

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whatever your "this" is.

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It can leave you, the
night's knuckle on your door

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is not consent, but
a decay of the ego,

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unheard, a nearness unknown
until an apnea arrives,

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tearing you from
bed for the noose,

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the blade, the bullet, the
fingers forcing the larynx.

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You were never living.

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Your father will tell you.

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The priest and prophet and the
succulent on the windowsill

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will not stop you and
say, you are not living.

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You're present.

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Some tomorrow there'll
be no sunrise,

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and none will say, where
is, where is, where is.

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They will believe
you are no longer.

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Your blood will mourn.

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The other will gather
to publicly demonstrate

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life is proprietary.

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Do not listen.

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Join the present at the
tectonic and continue to be.

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Push.

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Press your ears
against the mantle

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to hear the sound of
the pavement rupture.

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Push.

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The city will not sleep.

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Push.

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The flora, fauna, stone nod.

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You have always been present.

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Push.

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A valley is quiet, whether
cradling or calling.

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Push.

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The television, the paper
will say the fault is active.

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Push.

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The scientist will
diagram the Earth halved

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and demonstrate why
nothing remains static.

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Push.

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The present remain here.

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Push.

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Here.

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Push.

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Here.

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Push.

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Leave.

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Return.

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You exist.

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Push.

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You are present.

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Push.

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Swallow them into quiet."

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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