WEBVTT

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I thought I'd move to
the book, The Carrying.

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Read a few poems from that.

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My mother has done the
cover for all my books.

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And so I get to see these
paintings so beautifully here.

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Thinking of her.

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So if we think about my mother,
we'll begin with a poem for her.

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I have scoliosis and
have spent my life

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in and out of lots of
different therapies,

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so that I can wear a very
small heel, and walk, and not

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be in pain.

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That just is a back story.

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But this is a poem for
mothers and chosen mothers.

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The Raincoat.

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When the doctor suggested
surgery and a brace

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for all my youngest
years, my parents

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scrambled to take me to
massage therapy, deep tissue

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work, osteopathy.

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And soon my crooked
spine unspooled a bit.

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I could breathe
again, and move more

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in a body unclouded by pain.

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My mom would tell me
to sing songs to her,

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the whole 45-minute drive
to Middle to Rock Road,

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and 45 minutes back
from physical therapy.

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She'd say that even my voice
sounded unfettered by my spine

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afterwards, so I sang and sang
because I thought she liked it.

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I never asked her what
she gave up to drive me,

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or how her day was
before this chore.

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Today, at her age, I
was driving myself home

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from yet another
spine appointment,

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singing along to some maudlin,
but solid song on the radio.

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And I saw a mom take her
raincoat off and give it

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to her young daughter when a
storm took over the afternoon.

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My God, I thought, my whole life
I've been under her raincoat,

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thinking it was somehow a
marvel that I never got wet.

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[APPLAUSE]

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