spotted: new Billy Collins poem
Did everyone see the poem by Billy Collins in the New York Times Magazine? It's here if you missed it, which you might easily have done, since it appears on the Food page. Accompanied by a recipe, no less.
Her poem is long. Too long, the critic Clive James once wrote, cantankerously: "in the reader's mind the fish is croaking while she runs the micrometer over it, making nonsense of the poem's punch line":
The recipe is titled, "Whole Roasted Sea Bass with Winter Vegetables." The poem is merely titled, "The Fish."
Personally I don't think the recipe adds much, although (spoiler alert!) the fish in the poem does end up getting eaten. The poem is just lovely: funny and sad, in that Billy Collins way. Loneliness and mortality dished up along with the boiled potatoes.
As Billy knows very well, some readers, especially here in Key West, will be reminded of Elizabeth Bishop's famous poem of the same name. The poets both look their fish in the eyes: in Billy's case, "one flat, iridescent eye"; in Bishop's case, two (which is difficult, when you think about it):
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
And I let the fish go.
"Whereupon," adds James, "muttering 'Thanks for nothing, lady,' with its dying gasp, it undoubtedly sank like a plummet."
LITTORAL is the year-round online voice of the Key West Literary Seminar. We write about literature, Key West, and the authors who have been or will be part of our annual Seminar. Throughout the year on LITTORAL, you'll find podcasts from our growing audio archives, interviews and book reviews, news about the Seminar, links, commentary, and arcana.
Arlo Haskell is editor-in-chief. Send email to arlohaskell [at] gmail [dot] com.
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