Poetry Reading: Proof by Elizabeth J. Coleman

Adult Reading

For more information, please call 718.666.3049 x102

RSVP appreciated: RSVP@POWERHOUSEon8th.com

Poet Elizabeth J. Coleman stops by POWERHOUSE on 8th to read from her new collection, Proof.

About Proof:

New York poet Elizabeth J. Coleman seems to find meaning everywhere she turns. From Google to graveside, courtroom to courtyard, café to mountainside, hospital to recital hall, Coleman shows her great love of life, inviting us to “experience each small note, each observation as a means for understanding that universe. Here the moon is a kite, a train station ceiling a constellation as she links the mundane and the transcendent into her own unique and wonderful vision,” writes poet Richard Jackson.

Showing “an engagement with the world and its inhabitants that is sometimes humorous and sometimes piercing and always fresh,” Proof  has been described by poet Thomas Lux as “deeply human,” “quirky and unique” and “a splendid collection.”

Lined with poignant snapshots of life in and around New York City, Proof was a finalist for the University of Wisconsin Press’ Brittingham and Pollak prizes in 2012.

“Elizabeth Coleman writes that “every note goes / to the end // of the universe, / and must be beautiful,” and indeed if we are to judge from these poems she is… correct. From family to God, to Google, to a game of Canasta, Coleman allows us to experience each small note, each observation as a means for understanding that universe. Here the moon is a kite, a train station ceiling a constellation as she links the mundane and the transcendent into her own unique and wonderful vision.”
–Richard Jackson

“In these deeply human (therefore quirky and unique) poems, Elizabeth Coleman exhibits an engagement with the world and its inhabitants that is sometimes humorous and sometimes piercing and always fresh. A splendid collection.”
–Thomas Lux

About the Author: 

Elizabeth J. Coleman is the author of Let My Ears Be Open (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and The Saint of Lost Things (Word Temple Press, 2009), two chapbooks of poems. In 2012, Proof, this collection, was a finalist for the University of Wisconsin Press’ Brittingham and Pollak prizes. Elizabeth’s poetry has been published in the journals Connecticut Review, Raintown Review, 32 Poems, Per Contra, Blueline, and Peregrine, among others, and her poems appear in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, and in the forthcoming Poetry in Medicine Anthology to be released by Persea Books. A 2012 recipient of an MFA in Poetry at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, Elizabeth is also an attorney and guitarist.