Latest news with #ElizabethBishop
Washington Post
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
The remarkable life of a trailblazing poet
In the first half of the 20th century, the American poetry landscape was dominated by men: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams. At mid-century, however, a shift began. In 1946, Elizabeth Bishop published 'North & South,' a poetry volume that announced a new, distinctly female voice; four years later, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize for her volume 'Annie Allen.'
Spectator
17-06-2025
- Spectator
Am I ready for Turkey teeth?
My parents both had false teeth. My mother had all her teeth taken out one winter afternoon. I can remember her huddled by the electric fire with a small bowl of blood beside her, mourning their loss. It was a loss not just of teeth but of youth. She can't have been much over 40. Because of her I feel rather proud of the fact that I've managed to hang on to mine. I tell this to my dentist, Marcus. He's not impressed. I should have guessed by my stint watching the video in the waiting room of a blonde whitening her teeth and smiling. Just hanging on to them isn't quite good enough. I haven't had mine straightened, realigned or veneered. I haven't had 'a smile make-over'. Actually, I have rather large teeth. I'd quite like them reduced, like they reduce breasts – but I don't mention this to Marcus. He might take me at my word. He's already warning me about what he calls 'Turkey teeth'. Turkey teeth? Welcome to the world of dental tourism. Apparently, lots of people (celebrities, the rich, the desperate?) go to Turkey where dentistry is cheaper and where there are smile design dentists. Marcus describes having the bottom of your teeth shaved off then new porcelain pieces tacked on to the stubs. That's the least of it. When I Google, I find that for £5,900 you can have 'full mouth' treatment (both rows of teeth plus four implants and crowns), including flights and five days in a hotel. Such a holiday! Marcus says that the term 'Turkey teeth' is slang for botched dental treatment and that it's one thing for your treatment to go wrong when your dentist is just round the corner but quite another if it involves a flight back to Turkey. Which isn't to say that there aren't some exceedingly successful Turkey teeth. I can't remember when I gave up trying to find an NHS dentist and went private. I realise today, at my regular six-month appointment, that I must be a very boring patient. I haven't had a filling or a tooth out for at least five years. My teeth do look rather yellow but I'm so old nobody suggests whitening and at home we're too mean to buy the expensive toothpaste. A few days after my appointment I meet a friend just back from a holiday in Istanbul. She knows about Turkey teeth. She tells me that Turkey's proud of its medical accomplishments The waiting room at the dentist's is large enough to host a baby grand piano and I suggest this to Marcus, but I can see it doesn't appeal. The room has a couple of sofas, the video about smiling and snoring (they can deal with that too), a mini palm tree and magazines. I'm extremely pleased to see that magazines are back. During lockdown, this waiting room was so bleak I actually cried. I'm a little disappointed that the magazines are such traditional dentist-type magazines – National Geographic, Scottish Field, Good Housekeeping. I find myself yearning for the Sun, but settle for penguins in the Geographics. I can't help thinking of Elizabeth Bishop's wonderful 'In the Waiting Room' poem told as if by a child who, while reading the National Geographic (February 1918), hears an 'oh of pain' from her aunt in the surgery and suddenly discovers she's part of the human race, 'an Elizabeth', 'one of them'. There are three surgeries in this dental practice and I reason either the surgeries must be soundproofed or, hopefully, that all three dentists are so brilliant that there's never an 'oh' of pain. Actually, I do remember having a tooth out and afterwards suffering from what they call a dry socket – which was more a howl than an oh of pain. But that was then. This afternoon is just a check-up preceded by a session with the hygienist. Betty is new. She's accompanied by a nurse who I saw in the hall cleverly watching her computer and iPhone simultaneously. The previous hygienist used handheld scrapers and prodders and the like. Betty uses ultrasonic. It's noisy and wet and I protest. 'It's the modern way,' says Betty. Mopping my face I try and suggest that 'modern' doesn't necessarily mean 'better'. Smiling my yellow tooth smile, I pay Max at the desk, buy a packet of interdental brushes, book an appointment for six months' time and – £160 lighter but oh so clean and bright – make my shining way home, very glad I don't have to go to Turkey this year. At least not for my teeth. A few days after my appointment I meet a friend just back from a holiday in Istanbul. She knows about Turkey teeth. She tells me that Turkey's proud of its medical accomplishments, cornering the market on self-enhancement. 'It's not just teeth,' she says, 'It's hair implants. Bottoms.' I decide not to pursue the subject.
New York Times
22-02-2025
- General
- New York Times
Lost Causes
A couple months ago, a friend of mine lost her phone. The next day, another friend lost his wallet. These things weren't just misplaced; they didn't surface the next day. They hadn't slid out of a pocket and down between the couch cushions only to be found while tidying the house. The phone and wallet disappeared and didn't come back. They seemed well and truly lost. We misplace things all the time. 'Keys, phone, wallet,' I repeat as a mantra before I leave the house, the office, the bar, patting my pockets to make sure we're intact. We've all experienced that 'Oh no, where's my …' feeling. We're sure we lost some essential item and are hit with a feeling of doom so intense, it's almost breathtaking. Then, just as quickly, that exquisite wash of relief when you find that your phone is, in fact, in the pocket of your coat — false alarm, crisis averted. You are, for a moment, a changed person, a person who glimpsed the horror of having to call the D.M.V., and you got a last-minute reprieve. You'll keep better track of your stuff from now on. You never want to feel that way again. Misplacing stuff and then finding it is everyday nonsense. Losing things is rarer. The fact that two good friends lost important things back-to-back seemed weird, like a particular type of bad luck had zeroed in on my social circle. Someone wise once advised me that when things seem strange or confusing or too symbolically weighty, we might ask ourselves, 'How would I interpret this if it were a dream?' It puts some distance between us and what's happening. What if I had a dream in which people in my life kept losing their things? How would I interpret that? 'Lose something every day. Accept the fluster / of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. / The art of losing isn't hard to master,' Elizabeth Bishop wrote in 'One Art.' The poem begins by discussing the loss of inconsequential things like keys, then moves on to bigger losses: 'three loved houses,' 'two rivers, a continent,' 'even losing you.' Small losses prepare you for big ones. In the dream in which my friends keep losing seemingly insignificant things, I see symbols. The wallet and the phone are boring essentials, the untreasured, unremarked-upon tools of living that we take for granted until we lose them. Then their import comes into bright focus: What was even in my wallet? License, credit cards, so many receipts. Was there a gift card that I'll never get back? Things were so easy before and I didn't even know it. Now there's all this confusion, all this hassle. Why are we so careless? Why do we take everything for granted? In my interpretation, I am tempted to see a lesson in holding on to things more tightly, in keeping better track, in cherishing harder. But when I asked my friend who lost her phone about the experience, she described two hours of panic. The next morning, though, the feeling had vanished. 'I decided that if anyone wanted to get in touch with me, they could wait. That I could get everywhere I needed to, that I actually had everything I needed,' she said. Oh! Of course! Impermanence! I always forget. The Buddhist writer Jack Kornfield wrote of his teacher holding up a teacup, saying: 'To me this cup is already broken. Because I know its fate, I can enjoy it fully here and now. And when it's gone, it's gone.' The cup is already broken. The phone and wallet are already lost. We have everything we need. The things we're afraid of losing are already gone. Knowing this doesn't keep the terror from setting in every time I think I've left my phone in a cab. But in the quiet moments when I'm calmer, I'm trying to meditate on the things I'm holding too tightly, to loosen my grip a little, to carry a little more lightly the teacup, the wallet or phone, the people and places and ideas I'm clutching, as if clutching will keep them from vanishing. For more 📺 'Suits LA' (Tomorrow): In 2023, 'Suits' — a show that had been off the air for four years — was the most watched show on Netflix. It's easy to see why. The show was sleek and light, sexy and fun. What's more, it introduced the world to Meghan Markle. Now, we go again in 'Suits LA,' a spinoff series. Like the original, it follows the lives of improbably good-looking lawyers. Unlike the original, it's set in the world of Hollywood entertainment law. I'm sure it'll be just as fun, but whether it produces a star who helps convulse a centuries-old British institution remains to be seen. Salmon Niçoise With Orzo Perfect for chilly evenings when you long for summer, Ali Slagle's one-pan salmon niçoise with orzo carries the bright, sunny flavors of Provence in an easy dinner. This colorful mix of salmon, green beans and tomatoes is made in the same pan as the olive-speckled orzo, but added in stages so each element winds up perfectly cooked. And if it doesn't feel like niçoise without tuna, feel free to substitute a can of it for the salmon. Either way, it's sure to evoke warmer days to come. Click the cover above to read this weekend's issue of T, The Times's style magazine. The Hunt: After years of subletting and living out of suitcases, a young actor decided to find a 'soft place to land' in New York. Which home did she choose? Play our game. What you get for $750,000: A 1930 brick-and-stone house in Oklahoma City; a midcentury modern house in Tempe, Ariz; or a saltbox house in Madison, N.H. Birkenstocks and the Baguette: A group of experts discuss the shoes and bags that transformed fashion. Travel: Spend 36 hours in Banff, Alberta. Community: An introverted writer got more than she bargained for when she moved into a new home: She made friends with her entire neighborhood. The case for a cozy gift I wear a pair of socks to bed every night. I find they help send me to sleep faster by warming up my frigid toes. (I'm not alone in this, I swear: There are some studies that show socks can help you fall asleep.) The ones I wear are not only extremely soft and good-looking — they have become my go-to gift. Especially in dreary late winter, there is perhaps nothing kinder than brightening someone's day with a warm and luxe upgrade. — Haley Jo Lewis Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers, N.B.A.: When Dallas traded Luka Doncic, the 25-year-old face of the franchise, to the Lakers this month, Mavs fans spiraled. They protested outside the stadium; they protested inside the stadium; they canceled their season tickets. This is the two teams' first matchup since the trade, and it could be an emotional game for Doncic, who had been with Dallas his entire career and who, by all accounts, did not want to leave. Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT Here is today's Spelling Bee. Yesterday's pangram was trillionth. Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week's headlines. And here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku, Connections, Sports Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. — Melissa Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@
