Little Exercise by Elizabeth Bishop

<p>Production and Sound Design by Kevin Seaman</p><p> </p><p>Little Exercise</p><p>BY ELIZABETH BISHOP</p><p>for Thomas Edwards Wanning</p><p> </p><p>Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasily</p><p>like a dog looking for a place to sleep in,</p><p>listen to it growling.</p><p> </p><p>Think how they must look now, the mangrove keys</p><p>lying out there unresponsive to the lightning</p><p>in dark, coarse-fibred families,</p><p> </p><p>where occasionally a heron may undo his head,</p><p>shake up his feathers, make an uncertain comment</p><p>when the surrounding water shines.</p><p> </p><p>Think of the boulevard and the little palm trees</p><p>all stuck in rows, suddenly revealed</p><p>as fistfuls of limp fish-skeletons.</p><p> </p><p>It is raining there. The boulevard</p><p>and its broken sidewalks with weeds in every crack</p><p>are relieved to be wet, the sea to be freshened.</p><p> </p><p>Now the storm goes away again in a series</p><p>of small, badly lit battle-scenes,</p><p>each in "Another part of the field."</p><p> </p><p>Think of someone sleeping in the bottom of a row-boat</p><p>tied to a mangrove root or the pile of a bridge;</p><p>think of him as uninjured, barely disturbed.</p>