One Art
The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.
I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
***
Hello Friends,
Elizabeth Bishop‘s “One Art” is an example of a villanelle, a difficult poetic form to master. You can read more about the villanelle form here. There’s also an excellent analysis of this poem in Chapter 2 of Edward Hirsch’s How To Read A Poem.
Today’s poem is dedicated to Nishat and to my grandmother.
Love,
Ellen
Poems by Elizabeth Bishop were also featured for Poem-a-Day April 3, 2007; Poem-a-Day April 5, 2009; and Poem-a-Day April 13, 2010.