Love Poem with Apologies for My Appearance

Ada Limón’s poem, from her book The Carrying, captures the everyday realities of long-term relationships: sweatpants, messy hair, and the rawness of domestic life. In this recording from her 2018 reading at the Poetry Center, Limón shares that the first line was something she really said to her husband, reflecting on the divide between her professional and at-home personas. This unguarded messiness, Limón reveals, is also the place of intimacy and freedom.  

Ada Limón. “Love Poem with Apologies for My Appearance.” The Carrying: Poems. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2018.