All right.
I'll just read one more poem before I get out of your hair.
And Katie Farris, who is a far more superior poet in my family,
for sure,
will make your life much more interesting.
This one will bring things a lot closer home.
It's called "In a Time of Peace."
"In a Time of Peace."
And thank you all for being here.
Inhabitant of Earth for forty-something years
I once found myself in a peaceful country.
I watch neighbors open
Their phones to watch
A cop demanding a man's driver's license.
And when the man reaches for his wallet, the cop
shoots into the car window.
Shoots.
It's a peaceful country.
We pocket our phones and go.
To the dentist,
to pick up the kids from school,
to buy shampoo
and basil.
Ours is a country in which a boy shot by police
lies on the pavement for hours.
We see in his open mouth
the nakedness
of the whole nation
We watch.
Watch
others watch.
The body of a boy lies on the pavement
exactly like the body of a boy--
It is a peaceful country.
And it clips our citizens' bodies
effortlessly, the way the President's wife
trims her toenails.
All of us
still have to do the hard work of dentist appointments,
of remembering to make
a summer salad: basil, tomatoes, it is a joy, tomatoes,
add a little salt.
This is a time of peace.
I don't hear gunshots,
But watch birds splash over the backyards of the suburbs.
How bright is the sky
as the avenue spins on its axis.
How bright is the sky, forgive me, how bright.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]