A Memory of the Future

Poems

Elizabeth Spires author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:WW Norton & Co

Published:24th Jul '20

Should be back in stock very soon

A Memory of the Future cover

In A Memory of the Future, critically acclaimed poet Elizabeth Spires reflects on selfhood and the search for a core identity. Inspired by the tradition of poetic interest in Zen, Spires explores the noisy space of the mind, interrogating the necessary divide between the social persona that navigates the world and the artist’s secret self. With vivid, careful attention to the minute details of everyday moments, A Memory of the Future observes, questions and meditates on the ordinary, attempting to make sense of the boundaries of existence.

As the poems move from Zen reflections outward into the identifiable worlds of Manhattan, Maine and Maryland’s Eastern shore, houses, both real and imagined, become metaphorical extensions of the self and psyche. These poems ask the unanswerable questions that become more pressing in the second half of life. How are we changed by the passage of time? How does memory define and shape us? As Spires reminds us, any memory of the future will become, paradoxically, a memory of the past and of forgetting.

"Sprinkled with philosophical inquiries and Zen koans like that of the title, Spires's contemplative sixth collection opens with delicious wordplay." -- The New York Times Book Review
"A Memory of the Future by Elizabeth Spires is like a cup of tea for the weary. . . [Spires's] metaphysical concerns are grounded in refreshingly thoughtful poems as the speaker considers small moments through a spiritual, often Zen perspective." -- Elizabeth Lund - The Washington Post

ISBN: 9780393358292

Dimensions: 211mm x 155mm x 10mm

Weight: 107g

96 pages