THE FISH
The speaker tells of catching a tremendous fish which didn’t even put up a fight. Closer scrutiny of the creature results in the decision to set it free.
MANNERS
A conversation with a grandfather reveals the central thematic thrust of the narrative: how World War I brought to an end forever a certain simple and respectful way of life.
THE MAN-MOTH
A narrative poem from a third person perspective that contemplates and tries to make sense of the bizarre titular creature. The abstraction of the imagery has led some to interpret the poem as a manifestation of the effects of alcoholism upon mundane reality.
ONE ART
A villanelle that attempts to impose control over regret by providing a laundry list of things—including places and people—that the speaker has lost over time.
BRAZIL, JANUARY 1, 1502
The title situates the historical content of this poem which commemorates the first time that Europeans set eyes on what would eventually become the city of Rio de Janeiro. Among the crew of that ship in the Age of Exploration was mapmaker Amerigo Vespucci for whom, of course, two continents would be named.
FILLING STATION
A poem that reveals the mysteries of the mundane when one simply takes the time for closer observation and scrutiny of something as prosaic and seemingly unfit for poetry as a dirty, run-down gas station.
THE MOOSE
A poem in which the title character confronts bus rides on their way to Boston after it strolls onto a road to see what all the fuss is with this curious machine.
THE UNBELIEVER
In this contemplation of the underlying value of faith, the Unbeliever perched upon a ship’s mast is joined by characters that include a cloud and a gull as the consciousness through which perception of the meaning of faith and whether not having faith at all counts as a belief system is filtered.
AT THE FISHHOUSES
A visit to shore includes a conversation with the narrator’s grandfather and the sight of a familiar seal once again playing in the water just off the shore.
ARRIVAL AT SANTOS
In which the expectation and the reality of arriving in Brazil collide and fight for dominance.
ROOSTERS
The choice of distinctly male members of a particular fowl family become symbols of gender inequality within a distinctly patriarchal society.
SESTINA
A memory in verse depicts the events following the forced removal of Bishop’s mother from the house. While the child draws pictures, her grandmother tries to hide the fact that she cannot stop the tears while taking up job of keeping a home running.
IN THE WAITING ROOM
Another autobiographical poem—one in which she identifies herself by name as the speaker—that recalls a harrowing experience waiting for her Aunt Jenny to come back from visiting the dentist.
OVER 2,000 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A COMPLETE CONCORDANCE
This work is a triptych in which individual section creates a metaphor for a different mode of transportation through knowledge. The first section enjoys the order of a catalog of details arranged into a symmetrical concordance. Section two makes traveling through the acquisition of knowledge more like an amusement park where experience and observation can provide great thrills, but also create endless moments of pure tedium and the final section involves taking a ride through memory and recollection of facts gained and retained from the first two means of transport.
