Still Life
by Ellen Bass
It won’t last,
of course. The sun
at just this angle
on the coral tulips. Even now
they’re spinning away, but oh,
Get Jane Edberg’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
these open mouths reach out
on their supple stems,
revealing yellow throats, golden
pistil and black anthers wheeling.
They ride the air, louche cups of emptiness,
satin feathers, parrot-colored curtains, they billow,
they plume, dreamy sails, slack bells, they lift
and tremble at the slightest shift, even my breath
sets them nodding. For a minute,
maybe two, they
dwell and crest,
then the planet’s stream
takes them with it
and the shallow pond of light is gone —
except the tip of one petal
still catching the sun
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 three 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 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.
Twitter: @PoetEllenBass
Facebook: @PoetEllenBass
Instagram: @poetellenbass
