WEBVTT

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I like-- I like to
write poems which

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relate some sort of natural
object to human life.

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As, I suppose, a cabbage patch
poem was an example of that.

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And this is another one.

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It's called "Natural Events."

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"One.

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You are a river which
scrubs a dress on your rocks

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until it is threadbare.

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You are the dress, drying
in the wind's applause.

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You are the body inside the
dress, desiring another body.

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You are two bodies, you are
the bed, the advancing blade

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of moonlight.

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You are the moon, which
lives in another world

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and seeks itself in
the eyes of this one.

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Two.

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Because the bat has an arm
like yours, think of it kindly.

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Because the trout has a backbone
like a more beautiful you,

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use it to comb the tangles
out of your daughter's hair.

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Because the lilac
has stolen your heart

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and filled it with chlorophyll,
planted next to the house.

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Because the pencil
translates your dreams,

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carry it under your tongue.

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Because the spoon is your
mother, the knife your father,

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bury them deep before
the conquerors come.

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And three.

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Looking west, you say, this
is how you want to die.

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Give off white light all day
and then turn into a rose

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without knowledge of tomorrow.

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Know only it is time to
head for someone's window

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and leave no sound of
splinters, no fallen petals.

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Only your dark center expanding,
slowly filling the room."

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