Lilies Without

"Poetry," 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."

"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.

." . . When I get home, "

"my son has a headache, and though he's"

"almost grown, asks me to sing him a song."

"We lie together on the lumpy couch"

"and I warble out the old show tunes, " Night and Day . . .

They Can't Take That Away from Me" . . . A cheap"

"silver chain shimmers across his throat"

"rising and falling with his pulse. There never was"

"anything else. Only these excruciatingly"

"insignificant creatures we love."

Ellen Bass is co-author of the million-selling book "Courage to Heal." She lives and teaches in Santa Cruz, California.