This last poem I'm going to read is
by another friend of mine, a poet named
Mary Ruefle, a wonderful poet.
This poem is called "Merengue."
And merengue is a Brazilian kind of samba-like dance
with a strange beat.
Maybe you can hear the beat in the poem.
"Merengue," Mary Ruefle--
"I'm sorry to say it, but fucking is nothing.
To the gods, we look like dogs.
Still, they watch.
Did you lose your wallet?
Did you rip up the photo?
Did you pick up the baby and kiss its forehead?
Did you drive into a deer?
Did you hack at the grass as if it could kill you?
Did you ask your mother for milk?
Did you light the candles?
Did you count the buttons on your shirt?
Were you off by one?
Did you start again?
Did you learn how to cut a pineapple, open a coconut?
Did you carry a body once it had died?
For how long and how far?
Did you do the merengue?
Did you wave at the train?
Did you finish the puzzle, or save it for morning?
Did you say something?
Would you repeat it?
Did you throw the bottle against the wall?
Did it break?
Did you clean it up?
Did you tear down the web?
What did you do with the bug the spider was saving?
Did you dive without clothes into cold water?
Have you been born?
What book will you be reading when you die?
If it's a good one, you won't finish it.
If it's a bad one, what a shame."
Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]