WEBVTT

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This is a recent poem.

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It's called Slave
Ship German Model.

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Slave Ship German Model.

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I wrote this after
I was on a panel

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in New York with these people.

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When they were on
camera, they talked

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about the disenfranchisement
and oppression.

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And when they were
off camera, they

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were talking about their assets.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So I wrote this.

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I think people like
that to [INAUDIBLE]

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from the truly poor.

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I mean, really, I live in a
town where people are living

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under the freeway and all that.

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It's not progressive
like this town, right?

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Tucson.

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I mean, I see homes--

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[LAUGHS] Where did you put
all the homeless people?

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You don't see them around.

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Got a great Chamber
of Commerce here.

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But anyway--

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[LAUGHTER]

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--put them out of sight.

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Like Switzerland.

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I guess you know [INAUDIBLE].

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Where are all the
homeless people over here?

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We have no homeless
people here, Mr. Reed.

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Let's see, Slave
Ship German Model.

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With the first lines--

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I got to show these people.

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Maybe I'll get a promotion
if I say the first line.

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The first line, I'm
indebted to Emily Dickinson.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Great, great.

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It's one of the best
poets in the world.

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I was in London.

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And I said, maybe
I'll come back--

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how do I get a promotion,
where I'm working at?

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University of
California Berkeley.

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So I bought everybody fountain
pens from Buckingham Palace.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I couldn't afford the umbrellas.

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I mean, you know.

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[LAUGHTER]

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OK, in the gift shop.

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That'll do it.

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Anyway,

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"A pout is a thing with scales.

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Even when gliding
across the marble floor

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and tailored by Adolfo.

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I am in a room of pelts.

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The clothes they wear would
set me back three months rent.

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Off camera, he
displays a mink ring.

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On camera, he talks about
his disenfranchisement,

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his oppression, a word
that once had its hand

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out has gone and
gotten a manicurist.

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[LAUGHTER]

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He said that he
bought a Mercedes

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because the holes on the side
reminded him of a slave ship.

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At the entrance to JFK,
there should be a sign,

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Welcome to New York, a
Rhetoric Delicatessen."

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[LAUGHTER]

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OK.

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[APPLAUSE]

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