I'd like to lower the tone now and read
some poems about paranoia--
[LAUGHTER]
--which is not an emotion I experienced
until I came to this country.
[LAUGHTER]
This first poem is from a group of poems called The Michael
Morley Poems I read from.
It's a persona, a character, that I write about when
I'm in certain manic moods.
This is a little poem called "The Man."
"A man comes in the door who makes your skin shiver.
He says, 'I want the television.'
You say, 'Have it.'
He says, 'I want the dog.'
The dog, you say, is more difficult.
[LAUGHTER]
You wrestle.
He's a snake.
He is fast.
He is all over you.
His nails will rip your back.
Darling, you say, he tears the stocking from his head,
and it's the girl of your dreams."
[LAUGHTER]