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Elizabeth Bishop Short Poems

Famous Short Elizabeth Bishop Poems. Short poetry by famous poet Elizabeth Bishop. A collection of the all-time best Elizabeth Bishop short poems


by Elizabeth Bishop
 Minnow, go to sleep and dream,
 Close your great big eyes;
Round your bed Events prepare
 The pleasantest surprise.

Darling Minnow, drop that frown,
 Just cooperate,
Not a kitten shall be drowned
 In the Marxist State.

Joy and Love will both be yours,
 Minnow, don't be glum.
Happy days are coming soon--
 Sleep, and let them come...



by Elizabeth Bishop
 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-meaning to. 
And then there is no choice, 
and then there is no sense; 

until a name 
and all its connotation are the same.

by Elizabeth Bishop
 Caught -- the bubble
in the spirit level,
a creature divided;
and the compass needle
wobbling and wavering,
undecided.
Freed -- the broken
thermometer's mercury
running away;
and the rainbow-bird
from the narrow bevel
of the empty mirror,
flying wherever
it feels like, gay!

by Elizabeth Bishop
 The great light cage has broken up in the air, 
freeing, I think, about a million birds 
whose wild ascending shadows will not be back, 
and all the wires come falling down. 
No cage, no frightening birds; the rain 
is brightening now. The face is pale 
that tried the puzzle of their prison 
and solved it with an unexpected kiss, 
whose freckled unsuspected hands alit.

by Elizabeth Bishop
 Love's the boy stood on the burning deck
trying to recite "The boy stood on
the 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, who
would like a schoolroom platform, too,
 or an excuse to stay
 on deck. And love's the burning boy.



by Elizabeth Bishop
 I live only here, between your eyes and you, 
But I live in your world. What do I do? 
--Collect no interest--otherwise what I can; 
Above all I am not that staring man.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things