WEBVTT

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So let me now read
these Egyptian poems.

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The series was written from
June to December of 1977.

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And this is the work that
really precedes a reading.

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The Egyptian Poems
are based on very--

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very loosely based
on the rituals

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described in the Egyptian
Book of the Dead.

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The Opening of the Mouth.

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The dead are our children
and we must coax them to eat.

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Pointing to the mouth,
touching the food,

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the bull's leg, the heart.

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The dead are our gods.

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We must pry open their mouths,
they cannot live without

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our sustenance.

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We bring hammers and chisels,
we crack their throats.

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Our words fly open
above our heads,

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stone clouds of owls, lines
of water, rippling geese.

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The gods are our children: eat.

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Eat the heart, the leg,
the thigh all the parts,

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take into the darkness
of your mouth.

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This eye, it will
be enough light.

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It will light you forever.

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