FIRE* Tottertoddlerborn holds the old• mirth• arid halelift bites the hard• lamedodder dodders on the fall : hrah! . . lamelag and flameleg• fret frill free• flamelog and lamelig• free flit flot : glee of the gleed and heat of the air• flame to flameloll• teather of hair. gore• eater gibbers in the gloom• grimgirl flirts to the dirt : flarefold rears & soars hot horedom to the bier : hrah! . . bloodbale and barm and fret frill free• barm and bloodbale• flee flit flot : glee of the gleed and heat of the air• fire to firefroth• free of the flare. moodheart mother eats the maid• red• glim glimmers in the gloom : bell• old ember doles the ordeal : hrah! . . dearth and death and fret frill free• birth and breath and free flit flot : glee of the gleed and heat of the air• flame to flameloll• teather of hair.(1934)_____________________________
* Cox intended his ‘nature poems’ to be read aloud, and developed a
typography to guide the reader. A key to these typographical cues is given in
the Preliminary Note to the Gogmagog book, 9 POEMS FROM NATURE (1959),
which is a sequence of nature poems from 1937:. [full stop] = a pause of one full breath.
. . [two full stops] = a pause of two full breaths, etc.
: [colon] = a half-breath pause.
• [elevated, smaller dot] = a slight pause without taking breath.- BH/03