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, Washington Post Sprinkled with philosophical inquiries and Zen koans like that of the title, Spires's contemplative sixth collection opens with delicious wordplay.--New York Times Book Review All the distinguishing characteristics we've come to associate with Elizabeth Spires' poems--their shimmering clarity, verbal restraint, and self-interrogations--are enacted in this new work of meticulous surfaces and surprising depths.Spires' consuming subject--the fluidity of time set against the immutable presence of death--is approached with Zen-sparked simplicity: 'As one grows older, / there should be fewer / and fewer words to say.' Yet those few words, as set down in A Memory of the Future , resonate with wisdom and insistent wonder.--Michael Waters, author of Celestial Joyride With insatiable imagination, subtle music, stark candor, an ingenious sense of play, and an all-encompassing vision, Elizabeth Spires builds poem after poem revealing world within word within world. Her subject is nothing less than the feral innocence and courage of a 'poised / and ready' soul in search of meaning, open to ebullient joy and harrowing loss.

Discovering grandeur in miniature, alighting on a mortal's fleeting moment in a sublime landscape, Spires enlarges the possibilities of lyric. A Memory of the Future affirms her stature as one of the finest poets writing in English today.--Phillis Levin, author of Mr. Memory and Other Poems.