The Map of What Happened by Susan Elbe

by Susan Elbe

I want a book of poems to act like a genuine book and not just a miscellany of the poet's most recent work willy-nillied between covers. Susan Elbe's The Map of What Happened is just such a thoughtful, integrated collection, lovingly (and, I'm betting, painstakingly) assembled, occupying a space/time continuum all its own from beginning to end. This book is so much more than a sum of its estimable parts; there is such palpable life here because there are so many human lives in its pages. And this poet has a real stake in showing us the various ways in which they honestly matter. By the sheer power of her down-to-earth empathy and the resilience of her language, she makes her people our people, too. David Clewell, from the Judge's statement

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published September 1, 2013

About the author

Susan Elbe is the author two full-length poetry collections, The Map of What Happened, which won the 2012 Backwaters Press prize, and Eden in the Rearview Mirror (Word Poetry) which received Honorable Mention for the Posner Poetry Book Prize, and two chapbooks, Where Good Swimmers Drown (Concrete Wolf Press), which won the Concrete Wolf Press Chapbook Prize, and Light Made from Nothing (Parallel Press).

Her poems appear or are forthcoming in many journals, including Ascent, Blackbird, Nimrod, North American Review, OCHO, Diode, Prairie Schooner, Salt Hill, and Smartish Pace. Among her awards are the 2006 Lorine Niedecker Award, the Calyx Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Prize, The Poetry Center of Chicago 14th Annual Juried Reading, and residencies to the Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for Creative Arts. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, emotional, generous poetry. Susan really took me on a ride.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of poetry.