Working Habits by George Starbuck

we1George Starbuck was a poet who worked with cleverness and a real ingenious use of language. His poem “Working Habits” muses about writers and their drinking habits. Who would have thought he would have so many subjects to choose from?

 

 

 Working Habits

Federico Garcia Lorca

used to uncork a

bottle or two of wine

whenever the duende dwindled for a line.

 

James Joyce

would have preferred a choice

of brandies in decanters made by Tiffany’s,

but rotgut was the shortcut to epiphanies.

 

The Later Henry James

bet shots of rum against himself in games

of how much can we pyramid upon a

given donné.

 

Little Dylan Thomas

didn’t keep his promise

to stay out of Milk Wood.

He tried to drown the fact as best he could.

 

Anna Akhmatova

Eyed the last shot of a

Pre-war cognac de champagne.

“So much for you, little brandy. Do svidanya.

 

T.S. Eliot

used to belly it

up to the nearest bar,

then make for a correlative objective in his car.

 

Proust

used

to

too.