“Although it is a cold evening,
down by one of the fishhouses
an old man sits netting,
his net, in the gloaming almost invisible,
a dark purple-brown,
and his shuttle worn and polished.
The air smells so strong of codfish
it makes one’s nose run and one’s eyes water.’’
— From “At the Fishhouses,’’ by Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), a native of Worcester.
Preserved codfish.
