Endearment
Anna Lena Phillips Bell

 

 

O violet volt,

emit mettle, vim.

Omit evil,

veto ill, levy time.

Motile, eye-lit,

eye it levelly—

toy vole—

tilt, volley.

Yell millet, lily,

melilot, ivy!

Loll, molt,

emote, lilt—

tell it to me,

my little love.

 

 

 

~~~~~

Anna Lena Phillips Bell’s projects include A Pocket Book of Forms, a travel-sized guide to poetic forms. Her poems appear in 32 Poems, the Southern Review, Really System, and Colorado Review. The recipient of a 2016 North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship, she is editor of Ecotone and teaches at UNC Wilmington. Her work can be found at todointhenewyear.net.