WEBVTT

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"I wanted to be surprised."

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"To such a request,
the world is obliging.

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In just the past week, a rotund
porcupine, who seemed equally

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startled by me.

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The man who swallowed
a tiny microphone

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to record the
sounds of his body,

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not considering beforehand
how he might remove it.

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A cabbage and mustard
sandwich on marbled bread.

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How easily the
large spiders were

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caught with a clear plastic
cup surprised even them.

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I don't know why I was surprised
every time love started

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or ended, or why each time a
new fossil, Earth-like planet,

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or war, or that no one kept
being there when the door knob

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had clearly--

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What should not have
been so surprising--

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my error after error,
recognized when appearing

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on the faces of others.

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What did not surprise enough--

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my daily expectation that
anything would continue,

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and then that so much did
continue, when so much did not.

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Small rivulets still
flowing downhill

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when it wasn't raining.

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A sister's birthday.

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Also, the stubborn,
courteous persistence,

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that even today
please means please,

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good morning is still
understood as good morning,

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and that when I wake up, the
window's distant mountain

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remains a mountain.

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The burrowed city around me
is still a city, and standing.

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Its alleys and markets,
offices of dentists,

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drugstore, liquor
store, Chevron.

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Its library that charges--

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a happy surprise-- no
fine for overdue books--

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Borges, Baldwin, Szymborska,
Morrison, Cavafy."

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