Open the book. (The gilt rubs off the edges of the pages and pollinates the fingertips.)
Elizabeth BishopBeing a poet is one of the unhealthier jobs--no regular hours, so many temptations!
Elizabeth BishopWhat childishness is it that while there's breath of life in our bodies, we are determined to rush to see the sun the other way around?
Elizabeth BishopWhat one seems to want in art, in experiencing it, is the same thing that is necessary for its creation, a self-forgetful, perfectly useless concentration.
Elizabeth Bishop