What is the crisis, in the poem "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop?crisis as it relates to American crisis poems. Examples: Whitman's "As I Ebb'd with...

That is an interesting question.  You will find extensive
analysis of "The Fish" online, including an excellent e-notes analysis (see link below),
but these sites do not directly answer your question.  In the poem, the speaker
experiences an epiphany when there is "joy" in the boat and releases the fish at the end
of the poem.  Prior to this the speaker sees and exults in the life of the fish--seeing
something in the fish's life and liveliness that she (the speaker) can relate to.  The
crisis, therefore, could be seen as what to do with the fish, perhaps especially at the
moment where the indifferent fish refuses to return the speaker's gaze.  Once the
speaker sees even more beauty and life in the fish--the five hooks, for example, as
evidence of the fish's earlier struggles--she is no longer in doubt and releases the
fish in joy.