WEBVTT

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Next poem is called "A Wedding."

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She was in terrible
pain the whole day

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as she had been for months.

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A slipped disk and there
is nothing more painful.

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She herself was a nurse's aide
also a poet just beginning

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to make a name for
her nom de plume.

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As with most things
in life, it happened

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when she was changing
channels on her television.

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[LAUGHING]

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The lucky man, on
the other hand,

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was smiling for the first time
in his life, and it was fake.

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[LAUGHING]

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He was an aspiring philosopher
of dubious potential,

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very serious but somehow
lacking in essential depth.

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He could have been an
adequate undertaker.

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[LAUGHING]

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It was not the first
time for either of them.

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It was a civil service
with no music, few flowers.

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Still, there was a slow and
erratic tide of champagne,

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corks shot clear into
the trees and flash

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cubes, instant
photos, some blurred

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and some too revealing,
cake slices that aren't what

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they were meant to be.

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The bride slept
through much of it,

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and never did we figure
out who was on whose team.

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I think the groom
meant it in the end

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when he said we never
thought anyone would come.

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[LAUGHING]

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We were not the first to
arrive, nor the last to leave.

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Who knows?

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It may all turn
out for the best.

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And who really cares
about such special days.

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They are not what we live for.

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[LAUGHING]

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I always feel
particularly rotten

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when I read that last line.

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I can feel rotten about a lot of
my poems, but I really mean it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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