WEBVTT

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And I am so, so
happy to get to read

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one of my favorite poems of
Susan's from the book, Utopia

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Minus.

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The title is the name of a
Russian critic of Putin's

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regime, who defected to the UK.

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And in the UK, he was
poisoned with polonium,

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a radioactive
compound, and died.

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Alexander Litvinenko

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I found a billiard ball in
the dirt next to the driveway

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A tear off, a throwaway,
a non-sequitur awaiting me

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this good-natured morning

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Beside the neighbor's
rusted fence post

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Inside her yard, I
found room for all of us

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Move the planter to the steps

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Watch the snow
melt from the eaves

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Can someone reach
the wind chimes?

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Cleared their throat as
if beginning a ceremony?

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We sip unstable atoms
in every cup of tea

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The fields of ice
melt at the polar caps

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Find a blanket to lay upon them

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A lead thick thing like
those thrown over a lap

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by an X-ray technician
before he slips from the room

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Flips a switch, a
circuit completed

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Broken bones as
white as a silence,

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As when returning from work,

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We reach the top of the stairs

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Call out, is anyone home?

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Every day another
source of heat expires

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Bones from another century

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Winter bends the porch flowers

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Stills the wind chimes

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Kills the vine growing
through the chain link

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If you swallow the
right pill, your blood

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will glow inside of you

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If they inject the
right dye, it is

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possible to perceive
any corporeal surface

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A customs agent flashing
his light beneath our car,

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checking the contents

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Where do you want to see?

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Imagine watching your own
blood switch back its course

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Round a bend, remake its banks

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There by the river
in the darkest soil

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we might build a city

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Erect a barbed wire fence

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Use any means to defend it.

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Please welcome Raquel, who
will introduce Susan Briante.

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[APPLAUSE]

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