PHOSPHORESCENCE. Now there's a word to lift your hat to... to find that phosphorescence, that light within, that's the genius behind poetry.

The speaker treats “phosphorescence” as more than a scientific term: it becomes a metaphor for an inner radiance that persists without external fuel. By calling it “a word to lift your hat to,” the quote suggests reverence for language that names subtle phenomena—especially those that mirror artistic experience. The “light within” points to imagination, emotional intensity, or a private, self-sustaining vision that can illuminate ordinary life. In this reading, poetry’s “genius” is not technical virtuosity alone but the capacity to discover and articulate that inward glow—an afterlight of perception that continues to shine even in darkness.