- Three Endearments
Endearment
Laud a bad guy,dub a gal ugly—a bad day,glub by glub.Lay by a glad day—a dab, a daub,a gaudy bud.Land ably,ladybug.
Endearment
Better nab a tea urn,a batter beater,a bun tub,a neater tenet.
Beat a taunt,rebut a brute.An unbeat nature,an utter ebb—
Tune, retune,bee tureen.Turn true,tuna beret,benter tuba,butter bean.
Endearment
Lover, let ourlove rule ever,duel or duet,lode or letter.Red velour toduvet overdeer, otter,ovule, elver.Oud to lute,étude to reel—vetted, uttered—ever revel,o true love, oturtle dove. [End Page 182]
ANNA LENA PHILLIPS BELL is the author of Ornament, winner of the Vassar Miller Prize. Her work appears in 32 Poems, the Southern Review, and Quarterly West. She teaches at UNC Wilmington, where she is the editor of Ecotone, and calls ungendered Appalachian square dances in North Carolina and beyond.