THE IRISH POET

The Irish poet enters the hall late

as usual    no one is angry

several students have Yeats collections

on their laps    one student

waves a Patrick Kavanagh at him

he looks happy he says    ah

there are three teachers at the podium

they have been peering into

a computer full of poems which will be

flashed onto a screen    the poems

are by Shelley    Yeats    Bishop

they are serious teachers    these poems

are the early abysmal drafts

of great poets    the students are

encouraged    they have many abysmal

drafts themselves    they have usually

stopped at    oh    their second or

third draft    what if their longing

for their own true invention

of language is not strong enough    what

if they are satisfied too soon    there is

a long communal sigh at the screen full

of delicate poetic error    the Irish poet

smacks his head and sighs his own sigh

the students laugh and applaud