Elizabeth Bishop - One Art

Elizabeth Bishop - One Art - Read by Blythe Danner - Commentary by Mexican poet Octavio Paz

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979)

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.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Elizabeth
• Bishop
• One
• Art
• Poem
• Blythe
• Danner
• Mexican
• Poet
• Octavio
• Paz
• American
• Poetry
• Literature
• Poetictouch

[HerAeolianHarp]

Friend, thanks so much for your incredibly quick response to my question. You are simply the best. This poem is one of the best American poems of the 20th century, and I love this version best. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH! :)