#ellen bass

[havingapoemwithyou]

getting into bed on a December night by Ellen Bass

[girlfictions]

Ellen Bass, “The Thing Is”

[beguines]

Ellen Bass, from "Guilt", Mules of Love

[loveisdamnation]

let me live and let it hurt

late spring in the mesilla valley, carrie fountain | the landing, marie howe | a conversation with richard siken, thomas hobohm | the thing is, ellen bass | the cow, ariana reines | the lives they lived: jeff buckley, his father’s son, chris smith

[apoemaday]

Relax

by Ellen Bass

Bad things are going to happen. Your tomatoes will grow a fungus and your cat will get run over. Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream melting in the car and throw your blue cashmere sweater in the drier. Your husband will sleep with a girl your daughter’s age, her breasts spilling out of her blouse. Or your wife will remember she’s a lesbian and leave you for the woman next door. The other cat-- the one you never really liked--will contract a disease that requires you to pry open its feverish mouth every four hours. Your parents will die. No matter how many vitamins you take, how much Pilates, you’ll lose your keys, your hair and your memory. If your daughter doesn’t plug her heart into every live socket she passes, you’ll come home to find your son has emptied the refrigerator, dragged it to the curb, and called the used appliance store for a pick up--drug money. There’s a Buddhist story of a woman chased by a tiger. When she comes to a cliff, she sees a sturdy vine and climbs half way down. But there’s also a tiger below. And two mice--one white, one black--scurry out and begin to gnaw at the vine. At this point she notices a wild strawberry growing from a crevice. She looks up, down, at the mice. Then she eats the strawberry. So here’s the view, the breeze, the pulse in your throat. Your wallet will be stolen, you’ll get fat, slip on the bathroom tiles of a foreign hotel and crack your hip. You’ll be lonely. Oh taste how sweet and tart the red juice is, how the tiny seeds crunch between your teeth.

[geryone]

Indigo, Ellen Bass

[texaschainsawmascara]

The Thing Is - Ellen Bass / The Unpublished Poems of E.E. Cummings / Birthday - Andrea Gibson

[llovelymoonn]

ellen bass poetry of presence: an anthology of mindfulness poems: "the thing is" \\ marya hornbacher waiting (via @weltenwellen) \\ tory dent collected poems: "us"

kofi

[nofeelingisfinall]

oh, to be in love with life. oh, to be in love with love.

[angels in america, tony kushner || rainer maria rilke || jojo rabbit, dir. taika waititi || the thing is, ellen bass || joseph campbell || enough, ellen bass || andrew garfield || agatha christie || fleabag, phoebe waller-bridge || the deepest sighs, the frankest of shadows, gang of youths || the heart is a muscle, gang of youths || andrea gibson]

[theartofangirling]

“good bones,” maggie smith // “the house of the dead,” fyodor dostoyevsky // letter from george sand to gustave flaubert, 27 Jun 1870 // “free,” florence + the machine // “the thing is,” ellen bass // “encyclopedia of an ordinary life,” amy krouse rosenthal // “october,” mary oliver // letter from vincent van gogh to theo van gogh, 11 August 1879 // “etcetera: the unpublished poems of e.e. cummings“ // “livin’ it up on top,” hadestown

[havingapoemwithyou]

any common desolation by Ellen Bass

[beguines]

Ellen Bass, from "God and the G-Spot", Mules of Love

[exitwound]

dead butterfly by ellen bass

[apoemaday]

For My Daughter on Her Twenty-First Birthday

by Ellen Bass

When they laid you in the crook of my arms like a bouquet and I looked into your eyes, dark bits of evening sky, I thought, of course this is you, like a person who has never seen the sea can recognize it instantly.

They pulled you from me like a cork and all the love flowed out. I adored you with the squandering passion of spring that shoots green from every pore.

You dug me out like a well. You lit the deadwood of my heart. You pinned me to the earth with the points of stars.

I was sure that kind of love would be enough. I thought I was your mother. How could I have known that over and over you would crack the sky like lightning, illuminating all my fears, my weaknesses, my sins.

Massive the burden this flesh must learn to bear, like mules of love.

[geryone]

Indigo, Ellen Bass

[charles-jpg]

a new year, to begin again | charles leclerc