WEBVTT

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Thank you, again, Tyler and the
Poetry Center for having me.

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I'm going to end with an aubade.

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It's a poem that's
written about morning.

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Usually one lover to another.

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And in the first line, it
says the late, great show,

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and the late, great show
for me signifies America.

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In the aubade, for
the late, great show,

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morning begins with
the cashier ringing up

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a cup of caffeine, a dull
frown, and bitter language

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between her teeth.

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And yes, before this
there was the square frame

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of the alarm announcing the day.

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The lover, beautiful
by its side.

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The anniversary of
vows forgotten, again.

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And yes, maybe losing
a memory is the same

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as a mother and father built
without the muscle, the tongue

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to mother and father.

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You cross a border, call
it a room or a country.

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On feet or knees you enter, and
no one notices until it's fall.

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The long season, the only
season, the trees, dogwood,

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river birch, American sweet gum.

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Forever in a state of
shedding, so many griefs--

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too many to count.

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Each one brick heavy
falling from a hailstorm.

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And imagine, now, near or
far, underneath a desk,

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a young boy makes a discovery.

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On his right foot, a navy sock.

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On his left foot, a black one.

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What do they say?

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All things come to light.

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There has been a death and
nature, as repetition declares,

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there will be
another and another.

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And the frown on the
face of the cashier

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will freeze in the mind's eye.

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And the lover, come
sunup, will wake again

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to the urging of the alarm.

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What can be said that
hasn't been said?

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Grief is a winding ravine,
both somewhere and nowhere,

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unrelenting in its cruelty.

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No.

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It's a thing that
beats and beats.

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It's a heart mourning
its own enclosure.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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