Poem by Elizabeth Bishop

Conversation

The tumult in the heart 
keeps asking questions. 
And then it stops and undertakes to answer 
in the same tone of voice. 
No one could tell the difference. 

Uninnocent, these conversations start, 
and then engage the senses, 
only half-meaning to. 
And then there is no choice, 
and then there is no sense; 

until a name 
and all its connotation are the same.

1. O Breath
2. The Monument
3. Cirque D’Hiver
4. Visits to St. Elizabeths
5. Songs for a Colored Singer

Ella Wilcox Conversation ("We were a baker’s dozen in the house-six women and six men")

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