So in "The Fish," by Elizabeth Bishop, that we looked at in class today, I wanted to also point out how specific she is in her images. She doesn't say flower. She says rose, or peony. We want to be specific in our poetry, too.
She counts the number of hooks in the fish's lip. She doesn't say "he had a few old hooks in his lip." She mentions five hooks, counting the wire leader and the swivel. It was a moment frozen in time while she and the fish looked each other over.
But why doesn't she name the variety of fish? Why does she let the fish go?
Does anyone remember the alligator that got hit on Hwy. 17 in front of Dixon High School a few years ago? I'll tell you the story sometime. They estimated that alligator was maybe 80 years old. Why does the fish poem remind me of him?
Good poetry can make us draw associations to events and feelings in our own lives. Even when the poetry is about a very strange fish.
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