National Poetry Month – Elizabeth Bishop

Gwen Weeks

April is National Poetry Month. To celebrate National Poetry Month this poem is one we can all relate to during this time of quarantine: (Read Poem). This poem is by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth Bishop is an American poet known for her polished, witty, descriptive verse. Her short stories and her poetry first were published in The New Yorker and other magazines. Bishop won most of the major poetry prizes including a Pulitzer.

 

Elizabeth Bishop

 

I Am In Need of Music 

I am in need of music that would flow

Over my fretful, feeling fingertips,

Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,

With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.

Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,

Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,

A song to fall like water on my head,

And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

 

There is a magic made by melody:

A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool

Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep

To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,

And floats forever in a moon-green pool,

Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

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https://allpoetry.com/I-Am-In-Need-Of-Music

(“I Am In Need Of Music by Elizabeth Bishop.” All Poetry, allpoetry.com/I-Am-In-Need-Of-Music.)

 

About Author:

Elizabeth Bishop [1911-1979] was American born but raised in Canada. Started writing at Vassar on the student paper and founding her own magazine ‘Con Spirito’.

Bishop won most of the major poetry prizes including a Pulitzer and was a good linguist translating from  the Brazilian