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Don Paterson is an award-winning poet, editor and teacher, but for all his technical ability and the recognition that has been paid to his work Paterson is acutely aware of awe and sometimes envy when he looks at the work of other writers. Here he applies his wit and skills of technical analysis to discussing the five poems he wishes he had written.\nTonight, Elizabeth Bishop's 'Large Bad Picture'.

Large Bad Picture

Remembering the Strait of Belle Isle or\nsome northerly harbor of Labrador,\nbefore he became a schoolteacher\na great-uncle painted a big picture.

Receding for miles on either side\ninto a flushed, still sky\nare overhanging pale blue cliffs\nhundreds of feet high,

their bases fretted by little arches,\nthe entrances to caves\nrunning in along the level of a bay\nmasked by perfect waves.

On the middle of that quiet floor\nsits a fleet of small black ships,\nsquare-rigged, sails furled, motionless,\ntheir spars like burnt match-sticks.

And high above them, over the tall cliffs'\nsemi-translucent ranks,\nare scribbled hundreds of fine black birds\nhanging in n's in banks.

One can hear their crying, crying,\nthe only sound there is\nexcept for occasional sighing\nas a large aquatic animal breathes.

In the pink light\nthe small red sun goes rolling, rolling,\nround and round and round at the same height\nin perpetual sunset, comprehensive, consoling,

while the ships consider it.\nApparently they have reached their destination.\nIt would be hard to say what brought them there,\ncommerce or contemplation.