WEBVTT

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I wanted to tell you just
one thing about form.

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Because my forms are very
different in lots of my poems.

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And this poem has two
stanzas of 12 lines each.

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I'm dedicating this to Cynthia
Hogue, a brilliant poet,

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and a wonderful person who I
was talking to about this poem

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and also dedicating it to
the students that are here.

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It was written for my students.

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"Poem While The Power Was Out"

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Hot winds settled East of here,

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The blurred silences began,

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Stripes of the nuthatch stayed

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When the nuthatch flew off.

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And though you felt the
sunlight might bring harm,

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An odd forgiveness
entered the suburbs,

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Where, like the
dog in childhood,

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You drew comfort from the floor.

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The adults seem baffled,
wondering what to do next.

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Shouldn't they know?

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You sat quite still, and still,
all the way up your spine.

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Reason had hung its
unreasonable lights.

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OK, then.

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You were supposed
to remain strong,

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You knew this, you were
supposed not to worry.

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Once you were strong,

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The rare historical
voices moved aside

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so you could be different.

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Now afternoon was dark.

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So how to tell which
ones were real?

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They pressed along
through massive centuries.

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What do you need?

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What shall we do now?

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They kept asking
you, their ideal.

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During the power outages, I
would have my students take out

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their phones.

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And we would just read
poems on the phone.

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Or they would write
poems on the phone.

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And we would just sit there in
the dark and talk about poetry

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or just interview each
other and because California

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had a couple of rough years.