WEBVTT

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So the book is divided
into six sections.

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And the second section is
called, in a sort of bold move,

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"Activism in Poetry:
Some Brief Reports."

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And this is a prose poem.

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So a prose poem is
just a poem in prose,

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which means that the lines go
to the edge of the right margin.

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But it still matters that
you count every word,

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that every word
matters, that you still

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use metaphor and rhythm and all
the things that poetry uses.

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And every word counts,
and the line order counts,

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and the measures
count, but it's just

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can write all the way
to the right margin.

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That's what a prose poem.

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But it's really an essay.

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And the Jane in
this is Jane Miller,

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who was part of this action.

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And I'll say more in a second.

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"Activism in Poetry:
A Brief Report."

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Sometimes I'm called
an activist-poet,

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maybe to make my
aesthetically odd poetry

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seem more relevant or marketable
to audiences other than poets.

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I've gotten to dislike the
term activist-poet, especially

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the hyphen.

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Mostly, I'm not active,
and feel passive dread,

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bringing pagan
practices outside,

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talking to insects and plants
during the minutes, et cetera.

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My practicism occurs too
rarely, but basically, I

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can't stand 95% of what is
going on about anything.

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On Friday of National
Pollinators Week,

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it is suggested
that we take letters

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to our local Kroger market for
a campaign against pesticides.

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Kroger uses deadly
pesticides in their brand.

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Had signed up to
drop off a letter

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to the manager of Kroger.

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I've never heard of
Kroger before this.

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I'm from Berkeley.

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I drive to the nearest Kroger.

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My friend Jane comes
along for support.

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She is a great, calm,
beautiful woman.

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The area around the
store is being gentrified

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and is getting whiter.

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We're supposed to hand letters
to the managers directly.

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A large percent
of insect species

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will go extinct by the
end of the century.

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I'd like to become a
bee when I'm non-human.

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B will be a bee.

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My letter says, "Kroger's
brand contains glyphosates,

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organophosphates,
and neonicotinoids."

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I go into the market.

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The security guard looks
bored, but the energy over her

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is silver.

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She has long, brush-like
lashes, maybe even an inch long.

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She points to the cashier.

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Endangered things in
Kroger on the shelves

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include apples, sardines,
plastic purple beach balls.

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The humans are in danger.

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There is Roundup.

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It is National Pollinator Week.

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The cashier calls
the manager for me.

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He comes out.

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I'm the only white
person in Kroger.

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I feel shame for
having come here.

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White person from Berkeley
telling N, a worker of color,

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not in my neighborhood, what he
shouldn't have on his shelves

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because the bees are dying.

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Profit systems are full of
violence, is my usual line.

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N, the manager, is
friendly and not tired.

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I experience the energy over
him as vital, golden flecks

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of winged things
that could enter

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his circle without danger.

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I am a teacher, I explain.

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I want humans to go on living.

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Can't Kroger do something, I
say, and hand him a letter.

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He looks at me with mild pity.

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Energy wings while
we are talking.

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They never listen
to us, he says.

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He says, call national Kroger
and tell them what you told me.

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I start to say, Kroger is
committing economic terror

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on the people of your city.

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The cereal, and even the beans
have been horribly sprayed,

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buzzing of moral confusion.

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I'm a white person
coming into a store

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not in my town to
hand the letter.

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The young cashier waits
while this is happening.

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All this.

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She is as patient as
Mary in a painting.

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I say to N, can't you
just take my letter?

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He takes it.

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Both of us know they
never listen to us.

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To learn more about this,
visit beeaction.org,

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is what my letter says.

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Capitalism will last
longer than the bees.

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I saw a dead bee near our hive.

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Sometimes, I feel terrible after
"activism," but sometimes not.

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Depends on what gets folded in.

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Whether or not I feel
terrible is irrelevant.

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But folding in the why feeling
even a tiny bit less terrible

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seems to be part of it.

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