Philip Larkin calls the Poetry Crisis Line

Happy birthday to Philip Larkin, who would have been 99 today.

ROSIE (counselor): Poetry Crisis Line, what is your emergency?
PHILIP LARKIN (caller): I work all day and get half-drunk at night.
ROSIE: Maybe you need a vacation. What do you enjoy doing?
LARKIN: Waking at four to soundless dark.
ROSIE: And then what? Birdwatching? Fishing?
LARKIN: I stare.
ROSIE: Forgive my saying it, but it sounds like you need a hobby.