“I Am (Not) This: Erotic Discourse in Bishop, Olds, and Stevens,” in The Wallace Stevens Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2, Fall, 1995, pp. 234-54.

In the following essay, Ostriker discusses similarities and differences in the erotic imagery of Bishop, Sharon Olds, and Wallace Stevens.

Alas, Love, I would thou couldst as well defend thyself as thou canst offend others. I would those on whom thou dost attend could either put thee away, or yield good reason why they keep thee.

—Sir Philip Sidney, Apology for Poetry

Why, why do we feel (we all feel) this sweet sensation of joy? 

—Elizabeth Bishop, “The Moose”

                                                            But I have this, so this is who I am, this body white as yellowish dough brushed with dry flour pressed to his body. I am these breasts that crush against him like collapsible silver travel cups …                                                             … if you want to know who I am, I am this...