Customer Reviews

Mules of Love (American Poets Continuum)

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It's not often we get to read poetry that is immediately accessible, immediately relevant. In deeply touching, powerful language Ellen Bass tells us stories that make us stop, breathe and consider our lives. We see a deer in a bubble bath, an eighty-six year old rediscovering his sexual essence and a woman comforted by a quiet nap shared with an anonymous seatmate on a plane. As the events of the day lie, telling us we are separate and different, Ellen Bass' poetry shows us the truth -- worldwide, never have we been more as one.

As part of the women's movement of the 70's and 80's I was led to EB poetry and loved it...the personal, the public, the political all finally merging together....I could ID with the content and it nurtured my causes. I was an east coast radical want-a-be.

Now 20 years later it is so wonderful to view again the intimacy, the wisdom, the vulnerability presented in MULES OF LOVE....it has much more universal appeal. I sent the book as a gift to several friends in different age groups and they all appreciated it. She will catch your heart, trigger your pleasure center, knock the cobwebs off of those hidden parts of you....that you knew were always there. You will enjoy the lines and you will come to enjoy your own little space.

Ellen Bass takes the dry straw of everyday life and spins it into gold. We've all been there, done that -- traveled down the same roads. But, Ellen takes the blinders off and sees things through the eyes of an artist. In "Mules of Love," she shares the joy with us.

Some people might like dry, boring poetry that you have to practically de-code to understand, but I love simple poems that are about real life---poems I can relate to that touch my heart. I heard one of Ms. Bass's poems read on NPR and was instantly hooked and had to have one of her books (I later looked through several anthologies I have and found several of her poems in them).

I highly recommend this book if you love simple, soulful poetry that feeds your spirit and heart.

I loved Ellen Bass' "Mules Of Love", a collection of her most recent works. The depth with which she describes her experiences of ordinary moments, events, passages, and on and on is inspiring.
I found her capacity for simple straight talk and elegant amazing images, her whole range of language and insight, powerful and moving.

Fine poetry, sensitive, honesty and caring. Would make a great gift for any woman, but expecially someone gay as she addresses this in some of the poems.