One of Bishop’s early titles for “One Art” was “The Gift of Losing Things.” Maybe because of all the loss in her life—family, friends, homes, people—Bishop had to see loss as a gift. It surrounded her. In order to keep from drowning in it, she couldn’t view loss as the universe’s way of saying “I hate you.” She had to make her peace with the loss, accept that it was part of her life, and find meaning in it. She had to learn that despite the loss, she would keep going.
