WEBVTT

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So I'm going to read
one more poem that's

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not a part of The
Stuff of Hollywood,

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and then I'll get to
The Stuff of Hollywood.

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and I'm going to do
something that I never do,

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which is to read a brand new
poem that's in draft form.

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And what you need to know
is I love the prose poem.

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And I've started writing
a series of prose poems.

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It wasn't on purpose,
it just happened.

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So they're
documentary in nature.

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Each of the prose poems ends
with some type of language

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that I've heard
that sticks with me.

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Some of the language is really
interesting and sonically

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lovely, and other parts of
the language that I collect

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is really ordinary.

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I often use third
person in my poems,

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and so that's what is in this
poem instead of first person.

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This draft has no title, but it
was written on January 20, 2025.

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The morning of,
the phone was lost.

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Last seen on the nightstand in
the bedroom on the second floor.

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Next the morning of, there
was one car, her car,

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submerged under
several feet of snow.

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Feet can mean a certain
number of inches,

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or that which rests underneath
a piece of furniture

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to provide stability,
or the limbs attached

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to the ankle joints, or--

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The morning of, once
the vehicle was cleared,

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the spine of the right
windshield wiper broke in half.

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It was the morning of
the phone still AWOL,

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the windshield wiper broken.

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A day to reflect on four
words: I have a dream.

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Though not everyone was allowed
to reflect, which is to say,

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the morning of she
had to teach students,

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who on this particular
morning of should

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have been somewhere reflecting.

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On the board, she
couldn't remember the word

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for two feet, two
feet of poetry.

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She would have looked
it up on her phone,

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but it would have been
unfindable for several more

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hours, its body
somehow keeping company

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under the canopy of
a plastic microwave

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cover several miles away.

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The morning of was no longer
that, meaning it was now noon.

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The students stared.

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She stared.

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Whatever dismay they
walked in with deepened.

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In the parking lot,
unbeknownst to her,

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four car doors frozen shut.

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Outside, a new king.

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This is a reminder to
dress appropriately

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for the conditions.

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Central Dauphin School District.

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[APPLAUSE]

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