This one I have, this is like a fundraising poem.
And one of my nonprofit friends in New York is PS New York.
It used to be PS 122.
And they were doing a benefit auction.
And they were like, would you donate something?
And I was like, OK.
And I was like, I'll donate a dog--
a poem for your dog.
And they were like, OK.
And they auctioned off my poem and somebody
bought it for $5,000, which was like, whoa.
So then I had to go into the depths of richest Chelsea,
this incredible building with amazing blue chip art
collection, and meet these two Newfies, Penny and Paisley,
and go for--
I had to meet the dogs, right?
So we took the dogs for a walk.
I saw where they had their favorite little breakfast
treat.
And then I go off.
And I had an-- amazingly, I had my first trip to Greece
soon after.
So met the dogs.
Left town.
Went to Greece.
And then I get this email, where's my poem?
And I was like, Oh shit, I got to write the poem.
So I wrote the poem fairly swiftly,
maybe right after I got back.
And then I sent it to them.
And I never heard anything.
And then I've never--
I wrote that again.
I was like, maybe you missed the poem.
And then I've never heard from them.
So I just want to read the $5,000 poem.
I was like, come on.
It's called, "The Library."
"Penny and Paisley study maps.
Penny and Paisley abhor literature.
Penny and Paisley wear hats.
Paisley has got a bushy foot, wavy back.
Penny is very thirsty, camping over the bowl or the water
like a platypus, just like that, like literature,
like a library.
She's a beautiful mass.
She just sits there.
Paisley lifts her telescope at the Acropolis, at the Bay.
Ears are lost in her brownness, wiggle wave.
Huff.
Penny and Paisley at the deli.
Three paradise, please.
Three seasoned sausage and egg.
I love ruins, says Penny.
Just get the sandwiches, says Paisley.
Remember the dead.
Every mountain in Greece is named after Saint Elias.
Remember him?
Get me sandwich.
Day.
Bay.
My breathing is like the chug of a train, forward always,
says Penny.
Lobby in, lobby out.
Get me a boat.
Penny and Paisley are sailing.
Dusk falling on the ruins, on Shelter Island on the sea.
Penny and Paisley are singing as the light falls,
as the sandwich warms on the deck of the boat,
as the dogs dive in and splash around
and they're turning to see what you see at sea.
They sing.
And the sun warms the dog and the dog warms the egg.
And the egg warms the sea.
And the sea warms the day.
Penny and Paisley are sailing as they're
swaying down the street.
And the dogs wrote a book.
And the dogs went to bed.
And the dogs had a day.
That's just what it said."
What the fuck, right?
What the fuck?
I was like, come on.
I was like--