The Pulitzer Prize winning Irish poet reads his poem.<br /><br />Paul Muldoon: So, this is a poem called The Loaf. It's set somewhat in the house that I live in in New Jersey, a house built in 1750 or thereabouts in that era. <br />When they were building a house, they incorporated huge amounts of horse hair into the wall to bind the plaster, so that's a feature of this poem which is really, which is essentially about a hole in a wall and a range of sensations through it. Appearing in it are some of the Irish navigational canal workers who built the Delaware and Raritan canal. That's about it. There is a little nonsense and a little nonsense refrain, or something close to it. <br /> <br />The Loaf <br /> <br />When I put my finger to the hole they've cut for a dimmer switch <br />in a wall of plaster stiffened with horsehair <br />it seems I've scratched a two-hundred-year-old itch <br /> <br />with a pink and a pink and a pinkie-pick. <br /> <br />When I put my ear to the hole I'm suddenly aware <br />of spades and shovels turning up the gain <br />all the way from Raritan to the Delaware <br /> <br />with a clink and a clink and a clinkie-click. <br /> <br />When I put my nose to the hole I smell the floodplain <br />of the canal after a hurricane <br />and the spots of green grass where thousands of Irish have lain <br /> <br />with a stink and a stink and a stinkie-stick. <br /> <br />When I put my eye to the hole I see one holding horse dung to the rain <br />in the hope, indeed, indeed, <br />of washing out a few whole ears of grain <br /> <br />with a wink and a wink and a winkie-wick. <br /> <br />And when I do at last succeed <br />in putting my mouth to the horsehair-fringed niche <br />I can taste the small loaf of bread he baked from that whole seed <br /> <br />with a link and a link and a linkie-lick. <br /> <br />Recorded on: Jan 30, 2008
