Credit Dean Davis Elissa Ball is a poet, humorist, and nonfiction writer, originally from Yakima, WA. She has contributed to The Inlander, The Spokesman-Review, and The Yakima Herald-Republic. Her first poetry collection, The Punks Are Writing Love Songs, was published in 2012. Before COVID hit, Elissa was writing and performing comedy with Lilac City Live, and she hosted a monthly variety show at Lucky You Lounge called Rad Jokes. About the Poems: For this week's Poetry Moment, I selected poems about passion—an abundance of passion. The poems (all written by women) that I chose explore desire, power, and the invisible electric forces that draw us toward certain directions. Whether expressing the competitive desire to win at tetherball (Kim-An Lieberman's "In Tetherball Time") or the desire to openly, safely love another person (Elizabeth Bradfield's "Now You See Me"), these poets' voices exude an urgent, potent lust for life. Speaking of lust, Kim Addonizio's "For Desire" is one of my favorite poems of all time; its final line contains one radio-unfriendly word which I omitted for this broadcast. Thanks to Spokane Public Radio for allowing me to share these passionate poems with you.