Reading Yeats by Firelight

by John Roche

i.
brooding
abiding
pining
imbibing
praying
puking
bawling
all the necessaries
banished
by electric light

ii.
Yahweh brooded
o’er the waters
the old gal got her chicks in a row
thus the stars were hatched

iii.
Climb to our proper dark

iv.
incubation
of the poem
as with any disease
takes patience
something poets and patients
aren’t known for

v.
brooding
blank
brooding

vi.
fire helps

vii.
drink down fire
breathe in fire
breathe breathe breathe
remember to breathe
breathe to remember

viii.
music helps
or a tune in yr head
best the tune that wakes you out of a sound sleep
and sets you dancing after the red rose-bordered hem