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Since I saw that the
shrub of pyracantha

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out in front of the
Poetry Center guesthouse,

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I thought I'd read this one
that has pyracantha in it.

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It also has mistletoe
and I was very struck,

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I was just in Abilene and
noticed that the trees there

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are completely covered
with mistletoe.

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I don't know if you've ever
been through Abilene, Texas,

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but if you go through,
look at the mistletoe.

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It's just amazing
how much there is

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and of course, the trees
are about like this.

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So if you want your mistletoe
you just reach and get it.

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I'll add that, so you will
understand the opening lines

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of this poem, in
Virginia, the mistletoe

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is always at the top of the
highest tree on the hill.

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So that's-- if you're from Texas
you wouldn't understand what I

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was talking about, I guess, but
you don't even have mistletoe

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in Arizona, do you?

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Yeah.

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You do?

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They're grown in the field.

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Oh, I thought only cactus.

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But it's up, yeah.

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It's a slightly different
version in Arizona.

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Well, this may be a different
one than in Abilene,

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because it's certainly prolific.

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"Feast Day"

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If you wanted to hang
a sprig of mistletoe,

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you had to shoot it
down from the tree.

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Summers with so much dense
proliferation at the horizon

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that I was caught by weed
and bush grapes sprawling

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on a low fence, hedgerows of
wild rose or privet hedge,

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a snarl of blackberry
and poison Ivy along

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the red gash the
road made, and kudzu,

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honeysuckle overtaking
the banks, rotting

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logs, a burnt out barn.

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But in winter, from a
distance, scanning the hills,

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you could easily spot a clump
of mistletoe in the high oak,

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the top most branches like
a nest against the gray sky,

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and closer, the only green
thing left in the black tree.

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After Advent, having tied
the wreath of running cedar

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to the door, and whacked a blue
tipped cedar out of the field,

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having unearthed
the white potatoes

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and the yams, brought down pears
and peaches from the shelf,

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having sweated all the
sugar from the sorghum

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and plucked the doves,

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having long since
slaughtered the hog

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and hung it by the
heels in a nearby tree,

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having boiled and scraped the
bristles, slabbed the ribs,

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packed the hams and salt rinsed
and stuffed the gut, plunged

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the knuckles into brine,

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having eaten the
testicles and ground

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the snout with any remaining
parts to make a cheese,

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you went up country
with your gun.

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Oh mild Christ, the
long plank table

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is spread with wealth
and everyone is gathered.

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The father puts aside the
quarrel with his one remaining

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son.

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The mother wipes an
eye on her apron.

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The daughters hush, the cousins
cease their cruel competition.

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On the table the
brass centerpiece

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is heaped with the brilliant
red beads of pyracantha,

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thorn of fire torn from a
low shrub beside the house

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and lifted above them, emblem
of peace, emblem of affection,

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the fleshy leaves of mistletoe
bearing its few pearls,

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its small inedible berry.

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[APPLAUSE]

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