WEBVTT

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And I like to write a lot of Day
of the Dead poems, Día de los

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Muertos.

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In fact, I think it's
coming up and I'm sure

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here in Tucson people
are very familiar

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with that Mexican holiday.

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It's very important
to me and to my work.

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Every year I try to write
at least one poem addressing

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the Days of the Dead.

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You probably see the influence
of this, of death in my work

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already.

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But in Mexico-- it's true
in my town I'm not sure

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if it's true throughout
the Republic.

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But in my hometown, in
Michoacán, basically you

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pay rent to be buried.

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You pay rent while you're dead,
at least your family does.

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And if you cannot pay rent,
you know what happens?

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You get evicted, right?

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So you get thrown out to
the back of the cemetery.

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And when I was a
young boy, I remember

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we used to go to the
back of the cemetery

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and look at our coffins.

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By then you don't
realize that you don't

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get thrown out for a month.

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You were buried now.

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It's just years, and
years, and years,

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people forget that
you were buried there.

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And so not even bones are left.

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Maybe traces of bone, but
not like bones anymore.

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But there is one way
that you can really

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secure your home permanently,
and that's perpetuity.

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You pay this big lump sum to
be there for a very long time.

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Of course, not everybody
can afford that.

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So this poem is called
"Walking by the Panteón San

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Franciscano."

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And this is--

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I call it my tooth poem.

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And there is actually a notice
that I read at a cemetery.

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Notice.

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"Effective 50 years after
the date of your death

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those of you who don't pay
perpetuity will be uprooted.

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For more information,
please walk over

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to the Civil registry.

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Ask for Chela.

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[LAUGHTER]

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In this cemetery you can
buy perpetuity with pesos.

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For only 50 you can
keep the mossy hair

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you'll never learn to comb.

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The fingernails
you forget to stick

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in your mouth for comfort.

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So even if you
remember, your fingers

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will slip out just
after the lips slide in.

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You can have the shroud that
will eat through your skin

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after you split the seams
on your sleeping shirt.

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But you will own every
button on that shirt,

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and every bead on your
rosary, and every ring.

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And though the beads and
stones won't wake anymore

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you can be sure they're
safe, collecting

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at the bottom of your coffin.

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And your teeth, oh,
yes, those teeth

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in the back of your mouth.

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The ones you never used or
saw, even those will be finally

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yours to keep.

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But you'll also keep
the more valuable things

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like your cross.

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Yes, you can even
keep your cross.

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That gold plated
cross your godparent

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wrapped around your
catechism, or the all gold one

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your mother gave up when
you married in the church

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she and your father married in.

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Whichever one you end
up with, you'll keep.

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Isn't that what you, our good
Catholic, would want to do?

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You'll crease each finger over
the knuckles, both knuckles

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over the chest,
and then the ribs

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will cave in over
the lump of dust

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which used to be your heart.

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And you'll fold
over, and over again,

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until you are layers of thin
tissue pious as a Bible.

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Don't be fooled if your
cross seems to have grown.

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You have tried to shrink down
to the size of your cross.

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You have tried to be
devout and hinge yourself

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on it like a miniature Christ.

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And that will be your
own little secret

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blasphemy to keep in
a box and tuck away

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the way you used to
store old love letters,

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the way you will
store your own tongue.

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This you will learn and this
knowledge to you will keep.

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And no one will take that or
anything else away from you.

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No one will ever search
inside your pocket

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or disturb the way you pile
up your ash or tip your skull.

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For only 50 pesos you
can keep all those things

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you took with you.

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The few belongings even God
won't rattle in his collection

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plate."

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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