WEBVTT

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I would like to read some
eclectic poems, and also

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some poems from this new
volume Way Out in the Centre.

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I'd like to begin with
some very early poems.

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In fact, a poem I wrote when
I was a medical student.

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I happen to be a
doctor, so that means

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at one time I was a
medical student, which

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was a long time ago.

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And in fact, I wrote
this poem in the 40s, not

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such a long time after
the bomb had been dropped

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in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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And the Soviet Russia and
America were in very--

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at the time, very belligerent
postures as some of you

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may think they are now.

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And just as some of
you may be worried

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about a nuclear holocaust
now, I certainly

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and many other people were then.

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So this is a very simple
political parable,

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in which I use the strategy of
an English folk song, Ten Green

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Bottles.

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I know it says, ten green
bottles hanging on the wall.

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If one green bottle
should accidentally fall,

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then there'd be nine green
bottles hanging on the wall.

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And if one green bottle--

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and it goes down,
eight, seven, six, five.

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There is a story of a deserted
island, where five men walked

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down to the bay.

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The story of this
island is there are

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three men with two men slain.

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Three men dug two
graves in the sand.

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Three men stood on the sea wet
rock, three shadows moved away.

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There is this story of a
deserted island, where three

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men walked down to the bay.

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The story of this
island is there

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are two men with one man slain.

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Two men dug one grave
in the sand, two men

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stood on the sea wet rock.

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Two shadows moved away.

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There is a story of a
deserted island, where

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two men walked down to the bay.

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The story of this
island is there's

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one man with one man slain.

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One man dug one
grave in the sand,

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one man stood on
the sea wet rock.

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One shadow moved away.

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There is this story of a
deserted island, where four

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ghosts walked down to the bay.

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The story of this
island is there are

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four ghosts with one man slain.

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Four ghosts dug one
grave in the sand.

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Four ghosts stood on the sea wet
rock, five ghosts moved away.

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