[00:00:00] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: A.R. Bekenstein attends Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Her poem "This life sentence is not a death sentence" gently but firmly seeks to persuade her listener that there is reason to keep going.
[00:00:16] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: I know some days you
[00:00:18] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Play with pills and
[00:00:19] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Fiddle with razor blades,
[00:00:21] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Calculating the LD50 of your
[00:00:23] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Antidepressants and
[00:00:25] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Writing suicide notes
[00:00:26] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: In the margins of your
[00:00:27] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Geography notes.
[00:00:30] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: I know some days you
[00:00:31] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Pray that gravity fails,
[00:00:33] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Liberating you from the
[00:00:34] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Shackles of
[00:00:35] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Existing on this spinning water rock.
[00:00:39] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: But you see,
[00:00:40] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Death is not a hobby;
[00:00:42] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Dying is not an option, and
[00:00:44] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: This isn't even a multiple-choice question.
[00:00:48] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: This is a confirmation;
[00:00:50] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: A continuance,
[00:00:51] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: A cultivation.
[00:00:53] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: If your Life is anything,
[00:00:55] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: It is a wildflower:
[00:00:56] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Somehow
[00:00:57] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Growing in a
[00:00:58] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Tiny and unexpected
[00:00:59] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Crevice of the
[00:01:00] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Universe,
[00:01:01] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Hidden amongst the weeds --
[00:01:03] Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Looking.