Elizabeth Bishop’s autograph manuscript of “Belated Dedication”“Belated Dedication” peers past the flames of two open stove lids, then through two angel eyes, to land in a privy. Pushing comparisons, Bishop lets tides withdraw from flame-carved mud, while rain lifts to reveal Avernus, the entrance to the underworld. Dedicated to Anny Baumann, whose eyes helped Bishop penetrate deep layers of consciousness, the poem suggests how any aperture of world or body may be searched for mystical correspondence, or used to flip open a hell showing the underside of heaven.”
