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 upbeat nature,
       an utter ebb—

       Tune, retune,
       bee tureen.
       Turn true,
       tuna beret,
       benter tuba,
       butter bean.

Endearment

       Lover, let our
       love rule ever,
       duel or duet,
       lode or letter.
       Red velour to
       duvet over
       deer, otter,
       ovule, elver.
       Oud to lute,
       étude to reel—
       vetted, uttered—
       ever revel,
       o true love, o
       turtle dove.

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.