WEBVTT

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This is the last poem I'll read.

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CCDC South Tower, sixth floor.

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The fourth time you get locked
up, nothing comes by surprise.

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Not the cop who rips out your
piercings or the cold smell

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of piss in the holding cell.

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You already know how the
phones work and who to call.

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You know to talk fast.

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You've seen sunshine
seep through the receiver

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and leave a man drenched
in his own grief.

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The fourth time
you get locked up,

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you might try to pretend it's
normal, like a long DMV trip.

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You might say things like, this
happens to everyone, you know?

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Who's Black or Brown.

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You don't waste time watching
the door or pacing for warmth.

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You pull your arms inside
your shirt and sit.

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You know you're going
to have to sleep.

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You know they're going to
keep you at least a week.

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The fourth time, you know the
slow, gray beat of captivity.

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You done learn so well,
the rhythm is drumming

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through you like a
pulse, so low, you don't

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feel it keeping you alive.

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You're not picky about
what food because you

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know what choice you have.

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Take what you can.

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Trade strawberry cakes
like rose gold bricks

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and choose coffee, fruit,
a pill to help you forget.

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The fourth time
they take you, you

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know the dry expanse
of consciousness

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and the oasis of dreams.

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You know no one knows
why they're here

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or when they will be called.

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You know don't come back
is a jinx and never just

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an empty promise.

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You know silence is
a word you can keep.

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Best to roll it up and
quietly toss your blues.

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The fourth time
they get you, you

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know well how society
cages good and sick people

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and calls it just.

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How cages feel just like society
to the people who fill them.

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You know we all find a way
to live in our prisons.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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