more searches
reesetee has added 14850 words, 158 lists, 12701 comments, and 1760 tags.

Poetrie: The Map

[ feed | comment feed | cloud | sort:  alpha / order added ]
by Elizabeth Bishop

Land lies in water; it is shadowed green.
Shadows, or are they shallows, at its edges
showing the line of long sea-weeded ledges
where weeds hang to the simple blue from green.
Or does the land lean down to lift the sea from under,
drawing it unperturbed around itself?
Along the fine tan sandy shelf
is the land tugging at the sea from under?

The shadow of Newfoundland lies flat and still.
Labrador's yellow, where the moony Eskimo
has oiled it. We can stroke these lovely bays,
under a glass as if they were expected to blossom,
or as if to provide a clean cage for invisible fish.
The names of seashore towns run out to sea,
the names of cities cross the neighboring mountains
--the printer here experiencing the same excitement
as when emotion too far exceeds its cause.
These peninsulas take the water between thumb and finger
like women feeling for the smoothness of yard-goods.

Mapped waters are more quiet than the land is,
lending the land their waves' own conformation:
and Norway's hare runs south in agitation,
profiles investigate the sea, where land is.
Are they assigned, or can the countries pick their colors?
--What suits the character or the native waters best.
Topography displays no favorites; North's as near as West.
More delicate than the historians' are the map-makers' colors.
Words 1 through 35 of 35
green   has been listed 48 times with 0 comments
shadows   has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
shallows   has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
weeds   has been listed 6 times with 2 comments
lift   has been listed 17 times with 1 comment
unperturbed   has been listed 4 times with 0 comments
sandy   has been listed 10 times with 2 comments
tugging   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
still   has been listed 22 times with 1 comment
yellow   has been listed 40 times with 0 comments
moony   has been listed 8 times with 0 comments
bay   has been listed 15 times with 1 comment
glass   has been listed 24 times with 0 comments
blossom   has been listed 31 times with 1 comment
cage   has been listed 8 times with 0 comments
fish   has been listed 22 times with 2 comments
seashore   has been listed 6 times with 0 comments
mountains   has been listed 4 times with 0 comments
excitement   has been listed 3 times with 0 comments
emotion   has been listed 7 times with 0 comments
exceed   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
peninsula   has been listed 16 times with 2 comments
thumb   has been listed 10 times with 0 comments
smoothness   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
mapped   has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
conformation   has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
hare   has been listed 4 times with 0 comments
agitation   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
investigate   has been listed 7 times with 0 comments
assigned   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
colors   has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
character   has been listed 22 times with 0 comments
topography   has been listed 14 times with 0 comments
delicate   has been listed 29 times with 0 comments
map-maker   has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
Words 1 through 35 of 35
comments for this list
(add comments for specific words on the word pages themselves)
Register or login to leave a comment.