WEBVTT

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I'm going to read
a political poem.

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This was written shortly after
the Kennedy assassination.

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The title of the poem
is "December 1963."

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The talk is of
Johnson and a Congress

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which has done nothing.

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The accents are Virginia,
Maryland, the whining South.

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I sit in the back booth of a
Chinese restaurant, Washington,

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1963.

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Before me lie the New York
Times, some old classwork,

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and a journal I
carry everywhere.

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I am bemused, distracted even.

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All over, things fly in
and out of the windows.

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Roaches run up and
back, across the floor.

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What is there to object to?

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I drink beer and eat
Chinese fortune cookies.

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I am heartened.

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The revelation is at hand.

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Old classwork, objects on
a table, all landscapes,

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the murals and tapestries.

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It is time to go home now.

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The new snow, slush, the dark.

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Our seven children, my
three wives wait for me.

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Already, I am embracing
them, the snow upon me,

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pockets full of presents,
certainty, groceries.

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I am, on the whole, in step
with the new administration.

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[LAUGHTER]

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[APPLAUSE]

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