Basket of Figs Representation of Lesbian Love

"Basket of Figs" can be relatable to anyone who has experienced a loving and erotic relationship, but the poem particularly applies to a lesbian relationship. Ellen Bass has been married to her wife, Janet, for over three decades. Before this relationship, Bass had many loving relationships with men (including a marriage that produced a daughter), but they did not last. She has shared in interviews that she experimented a great deal during the sixties and seventies with relationships with men, but she became fed up. Around this time, Bass became interested in women. This was assisted by her leading women's writing workshops and reading the work of female poets. Mules of Love, the collection in which "Basket of Figs" is published, was honored with a Lambda Literary Award, which champions queer literary excellence. Queer lesbian love is apparent in the poem by the evocation of female anatomy through the descriptions of the "hard nugget of pain," the "seed of pomegranate," and the "private / cave of the mouth." These erotic and tender images portray a loving relationship between women. Though it is not particularly specified in this poem, other poems in the collection make it clear that the lesbian relationship being depicted is between middle-aged women.