The Human Line book cover

The Human Line

With a deft touch and a sure voice Bass takes on many of the crucial moral issues of our times, and she delights with portrayals of life's endearing absurdities. Offering homage to each transient moment, she reminds us to treasure the small, the plain, the surprising — those instances that lash us to the human line.

praise for The Human Line
"Ellen Bass's frighteningly personal poems about sex, love, birth, motherhood, and aging are kept from mere confession by the graces of wit, an observant eye, an empathetic heart, and just the right image deployed at just the right time. The Human Line is full of real stunners." — Billy Collins

about Ellen Bass
Ellen Bass's Mules of Love (BOA 2002) won the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, The American Poetry Review, Ms., Ploughshares, Field, and The Kenyon Review. Among her awards for poetry are The Pushcart Prize, The Pablo Neruda Prize and the New Letters Prize. [more about Ellen]

upcoming events

December 7-12, 2008
Writing & Knowing: A Poetry Workshop taught by Ellen Bass, Dorianne Laux, and Joe Millar
Esalen, Big Sur, CA
For more information visit www.esalen.org or call 831-667-3005

[details and more events]

recent podcasts

The Writer's Almanac
Garrison Keillor reading "Gate C22"

Garrison Keillor reading "If You Knew"

Garrison Keillor reading "Love the Way Men Crack"

Calliope's Call, A Writer's Life interview with Cynthia Lamb

KUSP The Poetry Show interview with Dennis Morton

Santa Cruz Sentinel interview with Chris Watson

Ellen Bass Photo Ellen teaches poetry and creative writing in Santa Cruz, California and in other gorgeous places, such as Big Sur, British Columbia, Mallorca, and Tuscany.