Endearment
Anna Lena Phillips Bell
O violet volt,
emit mettle, vim.
Omit evil,
Motile, eye-lit,
eye it levelly—
toy vole—
tilt, volley.
Yell millet, lily,
melilot, ivy!
Loll, molt,
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.