The fish that Elizabeth let go

Hey Elizabeth, I caught your sullen fish

He had grown past his age and pace, I found your fifth fishing hook

I thought for a moment, for I had a moment to spare

The fish or the moment, and a let go I could not bear

For this fish had sunk, its last hook and line

And sinker, mine , no one will be let go, too

I caught him at the side of my slow and rusty boat

When you let him go, his eyes were a beautiful yellow

I found them greying, cracking under the age of woe

I hoped I could be, a little more like you

To have given a chance, and kindly let him go

Alas your poem was drowning in the whiskey

That I got drunk on last night, as the night was low key

When I fished him out this morning, the lake had not been kind

I am a mortal too, out there fishing for food to find

I let him rest on my boat, whispered him his last prayer

I hope this would satiate my hunger, and that too for the next few days

Do not hate me, for I too have a mouth to feed, mine though

This fish has seen the last of your kind, kind poet, he now rests on my boat.

## Analysis as a Response to Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish"

This poem acts as a direct response to Elizabeth Bishop's "The Fish." Here's how it builds on the original:

* **Continuity:** It picks up the narrative where Bishop left off, revealing the fate of the released fish.

* **Shifting Perspective:**  The focus shifts from the poet who released the fish to a fisherman who catches it again.

* **Irony:** The speaker highlights the impermanence of the fish's freedom and the harsh realities of survival.

##  Comparison to 20th Century Poets in Context:

* **Modernist Dialogue:**  This poem creates a dialogue with Bishop's work, a common practice among Modernist poets like Ezra Pound who reinterpreted myths and classics. Here, the fisherman reinterprets Bishop's act of releasing the fish.

* **Nature's Indifference:**  The mention of the "lake not being kind" reflects themes explored by T.S. Eliot in "The Waste Land," where nature provides no solace or comfort.

However, unlike some Modernist poems that emphasized fragmentation and alienation, this response poem offers a more personal and relatable perspective. 

## Additional Points:

* **Social Commentary:** The poem subtly touches on social inequality by contrasting the poet's act of "kindness" with the fisherman's need for "food."

* **Mortality:**  Both poems explore mortality – Bishop through the fish's age and the speaker of the response poem through their own hunger and the fish's "last prayer."

## Overall:

This response poem deepens the conversation about respecting nature by introducing the harsh realities of human survival. It creates a dialogue with Bishop's work while remaining accessible to the reader through its direct and honest voice.