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Run Free | Sonja Sohn |TEDxMidAtlantic

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    The name of this poem is "Run Free."
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    My back is against the brick wall
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    and I got a Mack truck
    two inches from my face!
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    Every cell in my body
    is screaming: "Run!"
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    But I can't.
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    My mind drifts.
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    I think about the last time I ran.
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    Left my baby with two cokeheads on acid.
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    What does it matter that one was my sister
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    and the other my best friend?
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    It meant everything to me then!
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    Anything not to get busted!
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    My brain was busted!
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    Frying on the hot concrete
    of my life run-a-muck!
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    Dripping down the dead body
    of my soul,
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    collecting into pools of blood
    at my feet!
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    I'm kicking and stomping
    and running and jumping,
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    wreaking all kinds of havoc
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    creating a bloody mess,
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    and I am going nowhere!
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    Somewhere in my mind,
    I am moving.
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    Somewhere in reality,
    I am running!
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    Somewhere inside myself
    I am: "Oh, so still!"
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    Quiet. Dead.
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    My soul is not rising,
    my spirit is not lifting,
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    my life is not living,
    but... I am running!
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    Moving through the universe,
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    a whirling dervish with no end,
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    no purpose, no means,
    no life left to live.
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    But still, I want to go to that place
    where I can run,
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    "Run free!" my mind tells me.
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    But those two words
    cannot occupy the same space in reality:
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    "Run!". "Free!"
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    My back is against the brick wall
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    I got a Mack truck
    two inches from my face!
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    Oh, run free baby!
    Right now!
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    It would be so easy!
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    Just turn around and go!
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    Clip all the wires,
    hang-ups and hook-ups
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    and then you're home, free!
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    You can give birth to an excuse
    so easily,
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    you'll believe it's always been there!
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    Part of the natural order,
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    made to order
    by your forever clever mind!
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    Constantly making you believe in things
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    you no longer need to believe in!
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    I believe!
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    I believe like a Holly-Roller
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    singing, sweating,
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    preaching
    "Go Tell it on the Mountain",
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    while diving in 10,000 feet
    of baptismal water
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    without a life preserver.
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    I believe,
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    like my bullet-ridden brother
    out there somewhere right now!
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    Gurgling blood through his last breath,
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    spitting out a read ripe prayer
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    so new, so sweet, so baby fresh;
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    he thinks it can save his life.
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    Brutal honesty won't knock down
    the doors of Heaven
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    but it will damn sure crash
    the gates of Hell!
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    So I believe any and everything
    that sprouts
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    from my colossally imperfect mind
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    because in this moment,
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    I got a Mack truck
    two inches from my face,
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    and a brick wall kissing my ass!
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    God does not exist in desperation!
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    And hope is lying dead
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    somewhere in a sewer
    down the street, around the corner,
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    in the alley
    underneath the feet of somebody
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    itching, scratching, trembling,
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    jonesin' for their next hit
    and suckin' sombody's dick!
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    I got two minutes , ya'll!
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    I got two minutes
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    before I smash my face
    into the grill of a Mack truck!
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    Before I get 10,000 bricks
    shoved up my ass,
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    before I run free or die!
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
Run Free | Sonja Sohn |TEDxMidAtlantic
Description:

Wonderful Sonja Sohn slams a powerful poem called "Run Free" about the inner battles of one's mind.
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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
03:12

English subtitles

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