Ada Limón's poem "Wife" appears in her 2018 book, The Carrying. The speaker reflects on her lingering discomforts with the word, "wife," and how it implies a restrictive domestic role and rigid archetype. She expressed her distaste for and inability to fit into those stereotypes. She loves and desires her husband fiercely but wants this love never to be seen as something that diminishes or minimizes her. "Wife" is a free verse poem in one stanza comprised of 24 lines.
Ada Limón became Poet Laureate of the United States in 2022, and is known for her poems' clear, emotional observations, often with environmental and feminist themes. She is a full-time poet, originally from California and more recently living in Lexington, KY where she moved for her husband's work in the horse racing industry. The Carrying received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, a highly coveted award for full-length poetry collections.
