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Podcast: Poetry Unbound
Episode: Ellen Bass — Bone of My Bone and Flesh of My Flesh
Description: What pet names have you been called? What are the circumstances and stories behind these pet names?In this poem, a woman considers the pet names to give her female partner; “My beloved” isn’t very convenient when you’re dropping off dry cleaning. And what word to use when speaking of how she annoys you? Written in the time before same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S., the humor of this poem highlights how policy can steal language from the everyday.Ellen Bass is chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Pacif...