WEBVTT

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PATRICIA SMITH: Very strange.

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I'm going to do I think
three three poems of--

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back in 1994, I
went to South Africa

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to cover the first all
inclusive elections.

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And there was a series of
bomb blasts in attempts

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to disrupt the elections.

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And one of the biggest ones was
about two blocks from my hotel.

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And if you've never
heard a bomb go, I mean,

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it's just it's the
most devastating thing.

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We heard this, and didn't
know what had gone on.

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There's all these
journalists in this hotel.

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And we run down to where we
thought the explosion had come

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from, and it was a car bomb.

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And you couldn't see much.

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They had cordoned off the area.

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You can kind of look inside.

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You can see the buildings had
kind of folded onto themselves.

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And we stayed there.

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We stayed there.

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And after a while a lot of
journalists wandered away.

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We couldn't get any
more information.

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And a guy came around.

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He said, well, I will let you
to by to into the bomb site.

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So he lifted up the rope,
and two by two, we walked in.

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And at first, it was just
sort of physical devastation

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to the surroundings.

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And we turned into the epicenter
where the car had been,

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and they hadn't
removed the bodies yet.

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And I was not a
war correspondent.

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I had never seen
anything like that.

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And so I made a decision.

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I said, either force myself
to stay here and do my job

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or I can turn around and
go back the way I came,

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and I stayed there.

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And this is a poem
that came out of that.

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It's called "What
Peter Arnett Said."

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You guys remember Peter Arnett?

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He was such a pain in the ass.

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He was like, oh, excuse me, CNN.

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He's pushing us all aside.

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But he got in trouble, so.

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"At the risk of
shattering chronology,

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I guess I should
begin with the body.

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I guess I should start with
the crumpled lifeless legs

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jutting out from the
smoking carcass of the Fiat,

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and the way I knew those
legs would never walk again,

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would never run.

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I'll start with the
car being lifted,

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and the rest of the
man coming into view.

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His mustache matted
with brown blood,

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the jaunty felt hat
with the wide brim

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still in place on his head.

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And clicking shutters
trained on other dramas,

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and buildings with
the brains blown out,

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and Peter Arnett, his
big forehead gleaming,

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pushing me aside to say,
excuse me you're, in my shot.

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And sad white men stare into
the earth and grainy water

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spurting.

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And I guess I should
begin with the body,

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and the people passing by
exclaiming, astonished,

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but not slowing in deference
to this man who had just been

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taking a simple Sunday walk.

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You see, it was Sunday, and
fruit from the fruit stands

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blew, and the rotting
smell of slip sidewalk,

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and I knew he would
never walk again ever.

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The suit, did I mention
the suit and his hat

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and his mustache
soaked in blood?

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And I walked.

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He would never walk.

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I walked.

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He would never walk.

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I walked.

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He would die.

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I walked.

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He would never walk.

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I walked.

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He would never walk.

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I walked.

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He would never walk.

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And so I walked all the way back
to America and the footprint

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grew redder and would not fade."

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