Elizabeth Bishop

The brown enormous odor he lived bywas too close, with its breathing and thick hair,for him to judge
The floor was rotten; the stywas plastered halfway up with glass-smooth dung
Light-lashed, self-righteous, above moving snouts,the pigs'...

The tumult in the heart keeps asking questions
And then it stops and undertakes to answer in the same tone of voice
No one could tell the difference
Uninnocent, these conversations start, and then engage the senses, only half-meanin...

Unfunny uncles who insistin trying on a lady's hat,—oh, even if the joke falls flat,we share your slight transvestite twistin spite of our embarrassment
Costume and custom are complex
The headgear of the other sexinspires us to experimen...

Love's the boy stood on the burning decktrying to recite `The boy stood onthe burning deck
' Love's the son stood stammering elocution while the poor ship in flames went down
Love's the obstinate boy, the ship,even the swimming sailors, ...

In Worcester,
Massachusetts,
I went with Aunt Consueloto keep her dentist's appointmentand sat and waited for herin the dentist's waiting room
It was winter

Out on the high "bird islands," Ciboux and Hertford, the razorbill auks and the silly-looking puffins all stand with their backs to the mainland in solemn, uneven lines along the cliff's brown grass-frayed edge, while the few sheep pastu...

The state with the prettiest name,the state that floats in brackish water,held together by mangrave rootsthat bear while living oysters in clusters, and when dead strew white swamps with skeletons, dotted as if bombarded, with green hummockslike a...