Elizabeth Ellen

by Elizabeth Ellen

Poetry. Women's Studies. Art. Film. Music. A 400-page collection of poems in fours Nicki Minaj Songs, Bob Dylan Songs, Elliott Smith Songs, and 90s Riot Grrrls Songs.

Genres: Poetry

408 pages, Paperback

Published January 3, 2018

About the author

Elizabeth Ellen's stories have appeared in numerous online and print journals over the last ten years, including elimae, Quick Fiction, Hobart, Lamination Colony, Muumuu House, HTMLGIANT, and many others. She is the author of the chapbook Before You She Was a Pit Bull (Future Tense) and her collection of flash fictions, Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix, was included in A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: four chapbooks of short short fiction by four women (Rose Metal Press). Fast Machine is a collection of her best work from the last decade. She was recently awarded a Pushcart Prize for her story "Teen Culture" which appeared in American Short Fiction in 2012. She lives in Ann Arbor, where she co-edits Hobart and oversees Hobart's book division, Short Flight/Long Drive Books.

Reviews

[Mike Andrelczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a 400+ page book with more than 200 poems, this collection is a really fast read. I really like Ellen’s approach - the poems are insightful and sometimes angry, but always funny. One of epigraphs to the collection comes from a French artist named Eduardo Leve who said something like “factual reports are the most beautiful unpoetic poetry there is.” Sometimes these poems feel like you’re reading a friend’s texts to a crush. One of the storylines occuring in this book is about an obsession with a guy and sometimes these poems get repetitive but never boring. Each one adds a new dimension/level to the relationship (and Ellen is definitely aware of the repetition ). One of the poems is called something like “I think I have exhausted the point at which my audience wants to hear about you or us or whatever.” Then she writes probably 88 more poems about that relationship. Even when she writes about mundane daily things it’s fascinating and entertaining in the way Knausgaard’s “My Struggle” books are fascinating. I think the main thing I took from Ellen’s book was a lesson about empathy. She says something like “I didn’t know how you could have empathy for one and not the other.” Ellen is a Hillary supporter but that doesn’t mean she automatically hates Trump voters. In her poem “The Language of Christ,” Ellen explores one woman’s rationale for voting for Trump. There are a lot of big themes in this book, but it’s one of the funniest books I’ve read recently. The penultimate poem is about Charles Bukowski (Ellen reminds me of Bukowski in a lot of ways - see Bukowski’s “The Crunch”), at the end of that poem Ellen asks us to name a writer as honest as Bukowski. That’s easy: Elizabeth Ellen.

[Elle Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

the most important book of poetry you could ever read for any one interested in understanding their relationship to themselves, to the people around them, to their society and place in the world.

[Brigitte Driller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Ellen's poetry collection is voyeuristic and honest - a punk ethos coupled with challenging ideas, sex appeal, and a lot of heart. I could not put this book down and am buzzing with excitement about it. The question is what do we write when no one is watching and this book is the answer.

[Jason Arias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elizabeth Ellen is the conduit transducing the deeply personal into the deftly universal. This is true with everything I've read from her. And I think I've read everything. These poems read more like prose to me, which in my opinion is a good thing. A buddy of mine coined the term "prosetry." (If that's already a term, my apologies. But, you know, finders keepers. So...)

The bottom line is that these are accessible and tangible poems that read like the journal of a person not only unafraid to ask the questions, but also uninhibited enough to receive and reveal the answers. Even when neither question or answer is pretty. Especially when they're not pretty. And it's the complexity and un-prettiness of Elizabeth Ellen's prosetry that makes it so beautiful.

This is the type of writing that is heralding new depths of honesty, vulnerability, and unpretentiousness into the literary scene.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 5 out of 5]

More stories than poems or whatever

Doesn't matter

Elizabeth Ellen is one of my favorite writers

There are writers who feel like they give, and writers who feel like they take. Ellen takes, generally. She spills her shit across the page. I love it.

Also, I tried to text the number in the book. No dice

Five stars, just like all her books

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shades of Bukowski but female and writing in 2017 so I ate this up. The last two parts were my favorite with some tearing up occurring in the last part. It’s a 💎