I can't think of time when I've thought any less
of my poetry technique, I must confess.
The candlelight is distracting me
from a few thoughts to be composed
into alliterate phrases you see,
in the poetical world, it mustn't be round.
The music is a distraction, too.
It takes the rhyme out of the thought
and then makes mention of the candle,
which burns so very hot
to melt the wax of time and evaporate into equilibrium,
into oblivion.
back into the consciousness of time and of rhyme
in a place where the music plays
and the candle burns bright.
November 13, 1997