Elizabeth Bishop Quotes

He didn’t fight

He didn’t fight, he hadn’t fought at all

Here and there

Here and there his brown skin hung in strips like ancient wallpaper

I looked into his

I looked into his eyes, which were far larger than mine

With all their

With all their five big hooks grown firmly in his mouth

I stared and stared

I stared and stared and victory filled up the little rented boat

And I

And I let the fish go

THE PRODIGAL

The brown enormous

The brown enormous odor he lived by

He hid the pints

He hid the pints behind a two-by-four

And then he thought

And then he thought he almost might endure his exile yet another year or more

But evenings the first

But evenings the first start came to warn

But it took him a long time finally

But it took him a long time finally to make his mind up to go home

FILLING STATION

Oh but it

Oh but it is dirty

Be careful with

Be careful with that match

Do they live

Do they live in the station?

Somebody embroidered the

Somebody embroidered the doily, somebody waters the plant

Somebody loves

Somebody loves us all

FIRST DEATH IN NOVA SCOTIA

Below them on the

Below them on the table stood a stuffed loon

Arthur was very small

Arthur was very small. He was all white like a doll

Jack Frost had dropped the brush

Jack Frost had dropped the brush and left him white, forever

They invited Arthur to be

They invited Arthur to be the smallest page at court

But how could

But how could Arthur go

IN THE WAITING ROOM

The waiting room was

The waiting room was full of grown-up people

I read it right straight

I read it right straight through. I was too shy to stop.

But I felt: you are an I

But I felt: you are an I, you are an Elizabeth, you are one of them.

The waiting room

The waiting on was bright and too hot

Then I was

Then I was back in it

QUESTIONS OF TRAVEL

Think of the long

Think of the long trip home

Is it right to be watching

Is it right to be watching strangers in a play in this strangest of theatres?

But surely it would have been a pity

But surely it would have been a pity not to have seen the trees along this road

Is it lack of imagination that

Is it lack of imagination that makes us come to imagined places, not just stay at home?