Acceptance Speech
by D.G. Johnson

    I really don't deserve this,
    because so many of you
    made it possible.
    I'd like to thank God, the Tao
    Allah, Yahweh,
    the Collective Unconscious,
    and any other Directors and Agents
    I may have overlooked.
    Without them I would still be
    hunting and gathering,
    maybe doing B movies,
    or wielding a stick with a nail
    on the end, cursing the world's
    garbage.

    And I'd like to thank my
    mom and dad, wife and kids,
    brothers and sisters,
    other family members
    and friends, without whom
    I simply would not be here
    tonight.

    And George. Where would I be
    without my subconscious pal,
    the guy who throws stuff to me
    from the nether lands--
    relevant, deep stuff,
    sometimes with a twist
    that I could never have
    mined without him.

    Also, I'd like to acknowledge
    whoever was responsible
    for the Loma Prieta earthquake
    which scared me 7.1 times
    more than any other shaking
    I had endured and gave me
    a much greater respect
    for fault lines as well as
    the ability of asphalt and beams
    to ripple and creak with the flow--
    and made me more aware
    that some events are even more
    important than the World Series,
    and that those who died did not sin
    but just happened to be
    on the wrong bridge,
    and the sufferings of their loved ones
    are undeserved and unfair,
    and the drivers who just made it
    over the bridge before it
    faulted and dropped
    have much to praise and to mourn,
    as do we.

    Most of all, I'd like to thank
    my heart for stopping last night
    and the paramedics for
    jump-starting it in a timely fashion.
    We're attached to life
    by a filament.

    I can accept that now.






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