This is one of my favorite Elizabeth Bishop poems. One I have had committed to memory since I first discovered it. I used to repeat it over and over in my head until it lost all it’s meaning as I marched the streets of Brooklyn with my colicky newborn. The streets I loved and had felt like mine for years, were suddenly unfamiliar through the eyes of this new parent. Estranged from all my old haunts, I felt like a boring relic from another time. Apparently, I was defined by the bars and clubs I frequented and the company I kept. These elements of my life represented the careless youth I believed I embodied (at 36!). I was lost without them.