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EXTRA: Brian and Michael Read Poetry

Brian and Michael Hill read some of the many poems submitted to WNYC's Morning Edition Poetry Challenge ...and set up Friday's "rap battle"!

Michael Hill: Brian Lehrer, April is nearly over, and you know what that means. WNYC's Morning Edition poetry challenge is almost coming to a close. We received so many wonderful poems, so can we spend a moment reading some of them?

Brian Lehrer: You bet. Michael, I'm so honored that you invited me to be a part of this as one of the readers. I'm going to start then you're going to go. This first poem is called The Last Superpower, sent in by listener, Betty Sue Flowers, age 76, she notes, and here's how it goes.

I'm an old lady, I can do anything

I can walk right up to a boy with a shirt that says "Birds aren't real" and ask him what it means

I can dye my hair purple, who cares?

I can ask for help with a bag or not as I please

I can smile at strangers, no innuendo, no invitation

I can say anything because old is prejudged as crazy

I can eat what I please because I'm pleasing myself

I can sing from decades of songs

I can throw away things I might need in the future

I can think back and look forward at once any moment

I can feel grateful almost always for being here for the ordinary existence of things and how the light dances down every day

I can walk in the presence of anyone I've ever loved

I can say goodbye

Michael Hill: I've got one here that a lot of people I think are going to relate to this spring. It's written by Chantal House and it's called Strawberries.

When I think of consequences, I think of my itchy, watery eyes

How rubbing them raw will feel good only for a short while

How there's always a price to pay

I think of all the things we cannot cheat; time, mother, love, and how it's like picking strawberries

You pay for the ones you choose and you pay for the ones too delicious to wait for the right time, the right place.

Brian Lehrer: Such big thoughts told through the theme of strawberries. I've got another one a lot of listeners might relate to. It's called Being Poor, and it was sent in by listener, Deborah Mesibov.

The most expensive way to live, be poor

Everything costs more

At the corner store, bread and soda, cheese and donuts, even coffee by the cup

When they ring you up, know that with a car this list would cost much less in the suburbs to the West

Roll that car up in a dream of finding housing cheap and clean but stuck inside this Section 8

Grates on windows facing trash tucked through doors and grimy gates

Bills and piles on a shelf, averted eyes, subverted self, meager whispers of despair

This expense is everywhere.

Michael Hill: I've got one last one here, Brian. This is an excerpt from the poem, Caveats, Complications, and Consequences, sent to us from Stephen Woolen in Woodland Park, New Jersey.

A caveat from long ago and one we all should know

It is just as the Bible says, "We reap but what we sow."

Why can't I run a marathon?

Why are my pants so tight?

It's not a mega mystery

It's caused by each small bite

And don't change your horse in center stream

Careful where your heart says you should go

Though grass is greener on the other side, it's a million times tougher to mow

Brian Lehrer: That's certainly true. Thanks for sharing yours, Michael.

Michael Hill: Thanks to all of our listeners too, Brian, who shared their poetry with us.

Brian Lehrer: You're pretty good at reading those, Michael, but I have to say, I'm really better.

Michael Hill: Excuse me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, I'm just good at rhymes.

Michael Hill: Is that so, Brian Lehrer?

Brian Lehrer: Yes. I'd be amazing in a rap battle.

Michael Hill: You think so? You want to put that to the test?

Brian Lehrer: What are you proposing?

Michael Hill: You and me, rap battle, right here on the air.

Brian Lehrer: Michael, you know what? You're on. Tomorrow?

Michael Hill: Tomorrow. Same time, same place.

Brian Lehrer: It's a plan.

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