Human Line

Poetry writes best-selling author Ellen Bass is the way I pay attention appreciate give praise struggle grieve rage and pray. Its the way I embody my love for the world.The Human Line Bass seventh book of poems startles with its precise detail intimate images and wild metaphors. Bass brings attention to lifes endearing absurdities and many of the poems flash with a keen sense of humor. She also faces many of the crucial moral dilemmas of our timegenetic engineering environmental issues continuous war heterosexismand grounds her vision in the small private workings of the heart.. . . When I get homemy son has a headache and though hesalmost grown asks me to sing him a song.We lie together on the lumpy couchand I warble out the old show tunes Night and Day . . .They Cant Take That Away from Me . . . A cheapsilver chain shimmers across his throatrising and falling with his pulse. There never wasanything else. Only these excruciatinglyinsignificant creatures we love.Ellen Bass is co-author of the million-selling book Courage to Heal. She lives and teaches in Santa Cruz California.