Ellen Bass’s most recent collection, Indigo, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2020. Her other poetry books include Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. Among her awards are Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and The California Arts Council, The Lambda Literary Award, and four Pushcart Prizes. She co-edited the first major anthology of women’s poetry, No More Masks!, and her nonfiction books include the groundbreaking The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth. A Chancellor Emerita of the Academy of American Poets, Bass founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz, California jails, and teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University.
Ellen Bass
Poem
Ever-Changing Song
First a spout bursting through all that blue with the sun clanging on it, then a slope, wheeling, almost slowly, through the blue air, and four times— or maybe five—I see Continue reading
Poetry
Roses
Four roses drinking from a blue vase, the first one I name Moment of Gladness, the second, Wresting Beauty from Fear. All year I watched my beloved disappearing, the sweet fat Continue reading
Poetry
Bringing Flowers to Soledad
It wasn’t when Mr. M saw the little meadow blooming on the brown metal table. I’ll have such a short time with these, he said, as I pushed a paper cup Continue reading