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A poem called "For
a 13th Birthday,"

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written for the occasion
or on the occasion

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of giving my daughter
Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie.

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But really, what I want
it to do was contrast

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to eras, his and ours.

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"You have read War and Peace.

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Now here's Sister Carrie,
not up to Tolstoy.

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Still, it will second
the real world.

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Predictable planes and levels.

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Pavement that holds you.

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Stairs that lift you.

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Ice that trips you.

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Nights that begin after sunset.

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Four lunar phases.

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A finite house.

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I give you Dreiser, although (or
because) I am no longer sure.

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Lately, I have been
walking into glass doors.

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Through the car windows,
curbs disappear.

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On the highway, wrong turn
offs become irresistible.

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Someone else is
controlling the wheel.

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Sleepless nights pile
up like a police record.

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All my friends are
getting divorced.

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Language, my old
comrade, deserts me.

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Words are misused or forgotten.

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Consonants fight each other
between my upper and lower

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teeth.

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I write fiend for friend
and word for world.

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Remember comes out
with an M missing.

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I used to be able to find
my way in the dark, sure

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of the furniture.

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But the town I
lived in for years

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has pulled up its streets
in my absence, disguised

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its buildings behind my back.

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My neighbor, at dinner, glances
at his cuffs, his palms.

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He has memorized certain phrases
but does not speak my language.

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Suddenly, I'm aware, no
one at the table does.

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And so I give you Dreiser,
his measure of certainty.

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A table that's oak
all the way through.

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Real and fragrant flowers.

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Skirts from sheet and silkworms.

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No unknown fibers.

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A language as plain as money.

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A workable means of exchange.

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A world whose very
meanness is solid.

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Mud into mortar.

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And you are sure of
what will injure you.

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I give you names
like nails, walls

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that withstand your pounding,
doors that are hard to open.

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But once they're open,
admit you into rooms

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that breathe pure sun.

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I give you trees that
lose their leaves

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as you knew they would,
and then come green again.

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I give you fruit
preceded by flowers.

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Venus, Supreme, and
the sky, the miracle

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of always landing on your feet
even though the Earth rotates

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on its axis.

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Start out with that at least."

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