Self Help

“With wry self-deprecating humor, Elizabeth Poreba shares a clear-eyed view of the latter part of life. She pursues a quest for understanding as she intertwines urban existence, religion, and the natural world in unexpected ways, for example, inserting a dog—a labrador—as the means of preventing the loss of Eden and describing a grandchild as ‘my DNA cunningly packaged, his little cap covering potential crackpot notions.’”


—Katrinka Moore, Author of Numa and Thief





“The speaker of these poems may be ‘retired’ from official service, but she is anything but retiring—the liveliness, the wry wit, the energy of these poems belie any protestations to the contrary. Whether focusing on the natural world, family, or our shared social environs, Poreba brings her crafty skills and sharp eye together with a consciousness of the spiritual element inherent in all experience. A delightful collection that bears re-reading to discover the depths beneath the poems’ crystal-clear surfaces.”


—Amy Lemmon, Author of Saint Nobody





“The ‘self’ who helps us in Elizabeth Poreba’s new book of poems is a being that, like Ariel, leads us from form to form, from air to earth to water and back again, sifting into scenes of the city and elements of nature with elegant and affecting energy. These poems offer us the precarious power of the liminal spirit in action, questioning and probing, giving us ‘what is left/after the eye parses’ while ‘weaving/from water/my kind of coherence/gliding like/a key in the right lock.’ The most sustaining sort of self-help guide, Elizabeth Poreba’s poems open us to our vital hearts.”


—David Groff, Author of Clay