Charm — Summary

fire fire burn my brick

live like some cut in the body

a good drinker-up of every love

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The poem reads like a short incantation, which fits its title. The speaker addresses fire directly and asks it to burn "my brick," an odd and striking phrase. Brick is already something fired and hardened, so the request feels like a wish to be made stronger, or to be tested by heat again. The speaker may be talking about the self as something built and solid.

The second and third stanzas shift from command to a kind of hope. To "live like some cut / in the body" suggests a wound that stays open and alive, sensitive and unhealed. Then the speaker wants to be "a good drinker-up / of every love," soaking in affection the way a dry thing soaks up liquid. Together these images suggest hunger, vulnerability, and a wish to feel everything fully, even when it hurts. The mood is intense and compressed, a little fierce and a little tender, like a quiet prayer said under the breath.

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