The Human Line - Ellen Bass

n nPoetry, writes best-selling author Ellen Bass, is the way I pay attention, appreciate, give praise, struggle, grieve, rage, and pray. It's the way I embody my love for the world.n n The Human Line, Bass' seventh book of poems, startles with its precise detail, intimate images, and wild metaphors. Bass brings attention to life's 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 time--genetic engineering, environmental issues, continuous war, heterosexism--and grounds her vision in the small, private workings of the heart.n n . . .

When I get home, nmy son has a headache, and though he's nalmost grown, asks me to sing him a song. nWe lie together on the lumpy couch nand I warble out the old show tunes, Night and Day . .

. nThey Can't Take That Away from Me . .

. A cheap nsilver chain shimmers across his throat nrising and falling with his pulse. There never was nanything else.

Only these excruciatingly ninsignificant creatures we love.n n Ellen Bass is co-author of the million-selling book Courage to Heal. She lives and teaches in Santa Cruz, California.n