Poems Inspired by Elizabeth Bishop
#ElizabethBishop
Poems inspired by the American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Here you'll find poetry using the style, themes or characters found in poems and short stories by Elizabeth Bishop. Along with poems about Bishop herself, including praise, criticism and memorials.
Mother Hood
She stood there,
slightly ominous with a red hood that covered most of her face,
with a long red coat that reached all the way down to her boots.
“What about her?” I asked him curiously “she looks really cool”,
“Her name is Mother Hood” he responded “but she’s a villain”.
“How can she be a villain is she’s a mother?” I asked surprised,
“Technically she’s not a mother” he said as we glanced at her stance,
menacing like something out of a comic book or a graphic novel.
Then I wondered,
why on earth he would conjure up such a villainous...
slightly ominous with a red hood that covered most of her face,
with a long red coat that reached all the way down to her boots.
“What about her?” I asked him curiously “she looks really cool”,
“Her name is Mother Hood” he responded “but she’s a villain”.
“How can she be a villain is she’s a mother?” I asked surprised,
“Technically she’s not a mother” he said as we glanced at her stance,
menacing like something out of a comic book or a graphic novel.
Then I wondered,
why on earth he would conjure up such a villainous...
#ghosts
#ElizabethBishop
1126 reads
9 Comments
Little Exercise
( After Elizabeth Bishop )
—for Clewless and those suffering anxiety
Poison oak grows beautiful on the vine
its lush leaves inviting to the touch,
think of this as life, at times: biting.
Behind that velvet green lies a subtle itch—
its urushiol blood birthing blisters that will not last,
yet, stake their claim in pain nonetheless.
For everything there is something—
nature ensures that, Calamine eases
the stinging of rash, Moringa a restless...
—for Clewless and those suffering anxiety
Poison oak grows beautiful on the vine
its lush leaves inviting to the touch,
think of this as life, at times: biting.
Behind that velvet green lies a subtle itch—
its urushiol blood birthing blisters that will not last,
yet, stake their claim in pain nonetheless.
For everything there is something—
nature ensures that, Calamine eases
the stinging of rash, Moringa a restless...
#anxiety
#hope
#LifeStruggles
#nature
#ElizabethBishop
1578 reads
40 Comments
The DX Station
A Ford, a Dodge or even Chevy
Ding Ding the hose announcing
or maybe just some of the gang
with weight upon it, bouncing
In summer eves at half past dinner
bring our bikes and choose up sides
the DX station with lights much dimmer
get ready for the 'Ditch-em' rides
Choc-Ola was the favored choice
at fifteen cents a bottle
passed around and shared by all
allowed but just a swallow
Becky, Cheryl (aka 'Bone Shaker')
from a story read in school
King, McKeever, Sailor and Baker
four boys we...
Ding Ding the hose announcing
or maybe just some of the gang
with weight upon it, bouncing
In summer eves at half past dinner
bring our bikes and choose up sides
the DX station with lights much dimmer
get ready for the 'Ditch-em' rides
Choc-Ola was the favored choice
at fifteen cents a bottle
passed around and shared by all
allowed but just a swallow
Becky, Cheryl (aka 'Bone Shaker')
from a story read in school
King, McKeever, Sailor and Baker
four boys we...
#LifeAsAWriter
#memories
#ElizabethBishop
717 reads
13 Comments
fuel stop (filling station)
it was sitting on the state line
just a gas station with a grubby diner
overalls that could stand alone
the greeting of "aa won bee lonng"
I smothed my hair c'ause the hood was down
cheaked my look in the rear view mirr
his hands were manacured with oil
the thousand engines gears entrails
"hoodwy mam" said the missing teeth
and the ponytail so clogged with gease
my sun glasses I fold and put away
tosesterone can so betray
fuel needle on the red matched my blush
I pulled the hood and he cracked a smile ...
just a gas station with a grubby diner
overalls that could stand alone
the greeting of "aa won bee lonng"
I smothed my hair c'ause the hood was down
cheaked my look in the rear view mirr
his hands were manacured with oil
the thousand engines gears entrails
"hoodwy mam" said the missing teeth
and the ponytail so clogged with gease
my sun glasses I fold and put away
tosesterone can so betray
fuel needle on the red matched my blush
I pulled the hood and he cracked a smile ...
#ForbiddenLove
#ElizabethBishop
597 reads
4 Comments
The Mountain (How We Love)
How in my heart I can picture you and me,
sitting upon the mantle smilingly
gazing out upon the world as it appears,
an endless sea
Burning our eyes like fire,
salty and drawing our breath.
For what would we wish,
for Heaven in our midst,
for losing ourself in this dream.
For what we can hope for in this place,
for that which we can only esteem.
Setting suns and rising tides
are cherished moments in our time,
together are pondered frame by frame,
but what can...
sitting upon the mantle smilingly
gazing out upon the world as it appears,
an endless sea
Burning our eyes like fire,
salty and drawing our breath.
For what would we wish,
for Heaven in our midst,
for losing ourself in this dream.
For what we can hope for in this place,
for that which we can only esteem.
Setting suns and rising tides
are cherished moments in our time,
together are pondered frame by frame,
but what can...
#love
#nature
#mountains #ElizabethBishop
#mountains #ElizabethBishop
845 reads
14 Comments
A Miracle for Breakfast ( Sestina, After Elizabeth Bishop )
The pot-belly stove was sultry with warmth
its iron-embered eyes dissipating
as we dressed in our old country kitchen
bleakly confined on that cold winter morn;
our stomachs rumbled as gangs from dire lack
our fieriness made frigid by icy drafts
Sly wooden cracks coerced the drafts
seducing the last of our warmth;
bare cupboards creaked with bitter lack
their miserly contents dissipating;
hope worked despite that wintry morn
miracles in our old country kitchen
We scoured that desolate country kitchen
for...
its iron-embered eyes dissipating
as we dressed in our old country kitchen
bleakly confined on that cold winter morn;
our stomachs rumbled as gangs from dire lack
our fieriness made frigid by icy drafts
Sly wooden cracks coerced the drafts
seducing the last of our warmth;
bare cupboards creaked with bitter lack
their miserly contents dissipating;
hope worked despite that wintry morn
miracles in our old country kitchen
We scoured that desolate country kitchen
for...
#winter
#humankind
#WritingPoetry #ElizabethBishop
#WritingPoetry #ElizabethBishop
1110 reads
15 Comments
The Knack
( a Quatern )
A tribute to Elizabeth Bishop
(1911-1979)
and her poem “One Art”
I tell myself it doesn’t matter much,
When at the end of day my tally’s off.
A post-it note reminding me some such,
To go and buy the syrup for my cough.
So what if I forgot and lost the note,
I tell myself it doesn’t matter much.
I’ll make some tea & honey, let it float,
I keep it in my pantry or the hutch.
So while I’m thinking which I’ll fix a lunch,
Make finger sandwiches to have with tea.
I tell myself...
A tribute to Elizabeth Bishop
(1911-1979)
and her poem “One Art”
I tell myself it doesn’t matter much,
When at the end of day my tally’s off.
A post-it note reminding me some such,
To go and buy the syrup for my cough.
So what if I forgot and lost the note,
I tell myself it doesn’t matter much.
I’ll make some tea & honey, let it float,
I keep it in my pantry or the hutch.
So while I’m thinking which I’ll fix a lunch,
Make finger sandwiches to have with tea.
I tell myself...
#LifeAsAWriter
#ElizabethBishop
706 reads
10 Comments
Lunar Lunacy
Manmade moons and starlight satellites
Will soon brighten our night
For convenience and aesthetic delight
Bathing our precious planet
With artificial incandescent light
Yet, because of this marvel
There will be no survival
For creatures nocturnal
Not the bat, or the owl
Nor the banded armadillo
These poor children of the night
Forced into synthetic daylight
Will suffer and perish
In confusion and fright
For humans have proven
Throughout our history
That we have no empathy ...
Will soon brighten our night
For convenience and aesthetic delight
Bathing our precious planet
With artificial incandescent light
Yet, because of this marvel
There will be no survival
For creatures nocturnal
Not the bat, or the owl
Nor the banded armadillo
These poor children of the night
Forced into synthetic daylight
Will suffer and perish
In confusion and fright
For humans have proven
Throughout our history
That we have no empathy ...
#anger
#technology
#astronomy
#CallToAction
#ElizabethBishop
935 reads
7 Comments
Villanelle Nr.12 — The Sacred Art Of Losing Well
Your villanelle intrigues him from the start
he reads it many times - he’s mesmerised -
it stokes desire to learn this sacred art
and teasing meaning from the poem’s parts
poetic prowess sensed and recognised
your villanelle intrigues him from the start.
He sees it’s not a case of being ‘smart’ -
disaster looms when trust is compromised
killing desire to learn a sacred art.
And though the final line looks off the chart
the mastery leaves...
he reads it many times - he’s mesmerised -
it stokes desire to learn this sacred art
and teasing meaning from the poem’s parts
poetic prowess sensed and recognised
your villanelle intrigues him from the start.
He sees it’s not a case of being ‘smart’ -
disaster looms when trust is compromised
killing desire to learn a sacred art.
And though the final line looks off the chart
the mastery leaves...
#LifeStruggles
#rhyming
#LifeAsAWriter
#WritingPoetry
#ElizabethBishop
918 reads
14 Comments
A Cold Spring (After Elizabeth Bishop )
Alabaster bones reflect
warmth of an obscure orb;
their pallid membrane dormant
- lacklustre of any verdure
Winter pursues first green
as gold, but she escapes -
her youthful diligence scattering
a surplus of burgeoning buds
in her wake;
tiny nubs, hardened as pearl-
moist, glistening in halflight
of compressed dew
I read once about Spring in Ohio;
the belly of a tulip engorged with snow
a slow death of sharp...
warmth of an obscure orb;
their pallid membrane dormant
- lacklustre of any verdure
Winter pursues first green
as gold, but she escapes -
her youthful diligence scattering
a surplus of burgeoning buds
in her wake;
tiny nubs, hardened as pearl-
moist, glistening in halflight
of compressed dew
I read once about Spring in Ohio;
the belly of a tulip engorged with snow
a slow death of sharp...
#animals
#spring
#nature
#WritingPoetry
#ElizabethBishop
1271 reads
13 Comments
Filling Station ( After Elizabeth Bishop )
Oil-ladened landscape
atop a filthy plot of concrete -
its native inhabitants
connoisseurs of grease;
their laborious toil rotates
lubricating worldly wheels
of cadillac sevilles and corvettes
You sought, found life beyond globular
molds of oil saturating cracks
across a dirty reality check;
Texas crude bubbling up, black gold --
except for the blue collar coveralls
stained with its blood
...
atop a filthy plot of concrete -
its native inhabitants
connoisseurs of grease;
their laborious toil rotates
lubricating worldly wheels
of cadillac sevilles and corvettes
You sought, found life beyond globular
molds of oil saturating cracks
across a dirty reality check;
Texas crude bubbling up, black gold --
except for the blue collar coveralls
stained with its blood
...
#identity
#beauty
#inspirational
#cars
#ElizabethBishop
1009 reads
10 Comments
At The Fish Houses ( After Elizabeth Bishop )
Necessity in death and dying;
its cold nature a hardened breast
of rocks nursing the evolution
of time and time gone by
Come the coastline in season
burning its way through glassy sand
shattered shards of granules
sinking beneath its watery breath
You remembered your mother
that Nova Scotian ice-rattle of lungs;
their spindly pinnacles dissolving
under arthritic air brittle with bone
You sit, serenading a seal
its interest lacking in...
its cold nature a hardened breast
of rocks nursing the evolution
of time and time gone by
Come the coastline in season
burning its way through glassy sand
shattered shards of granules
sinking beneath its watery breath
You remembered your mother
that Nova Scotian ice-rattle of lungs;
their spindly pinnacles dissolving
under arthritic air brittle with bone
You sit, serenading a seal
its interest lacking in...
#sea
#nature
#fish
#LifeAsAWriter
#ElizabethBishop
892 reads
19 Comments
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Ahavati
#ElizabethBishop is curated by Ahavati (Tams).