Kindling

Straw for the Fire

--Theodore Roethke

When starting a bonfire for a Cub Scout pack meeting, I tried shopping ads, but they burned out too quickly. In those days I was a poetry editor and had some submissions that weren't accepted. They made very fine fire starters. Naturally they worked better than the newsprint because they were printed on office paper--it had more to do with the medium than the words--but it reminded me that even "failed" poetry has in it potential energy to kindle the intense.