Enter The Poet - Imagining E. Bishop

The Second Art

The art of finding is not hard to perfect;
so much in life seems filled with this function
to find no value finding is not defect.

An article each day; one starts to collect
worthless things, each one full of dysfunction
The art of finding is not hard to perfect.

Practice locating often; nothing on which to reflect
Bad jobs, failed dreams; found without compunction
They all were worthless, which is not defect.

Nothing worth keeping; not one correct
sorry friendships, with improper conjunction
The art of finding is not hard to perfect.

Found my voice, too late to produce affect.
I once found a promise full of malfunction
All of it empty which is not defect


Finding a mate (hopeful voice), in retrospect,
may seem an easy quest to do. In notion,
the art of finding's not too hard to perfect
to find no value (Type it!) seems like defect

al brown