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W. S. Merwin (1927–2019) was born in New York City. His book Migration: Selected Poems 1951–2001 won the National Book Award for poetry in 2005, and he has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In 2010 Merwin was named Poet Laureate of the United States, and in 2013 he was the first recipient of the International Zbigniew Herbert Prize. Merwin lived and worked in Hawaii, where he maintained a garden of rare and endangered palm trees.

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Exercise

by W. S. Merwin
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First forget what time it is
for an hour
do it regularly every day

then forget what day of the week it is
do this regularly for a week
then forget what country you are in
and practice doing it in company
for a week
then do them together
for a week
with as few breaks as possible
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