In her thought-provoking debut full-length collection, A Family Thing, Ashley Elizabeth invites you into the depths of her childhood, marked by tragedies including childhood sexual assault, ailing parents, and the loss of innocence. With raw vulnerability, she guides the reader throught the corners of her past, with language that is as haunting as it is cathartic.
One Night We Will No Longer Bear the Ocean tells the story of a life-changing encounter between two people haunted by past trauma and anxieties. Their connection and mutual fascination dispels the darkness—but only for a while.
The Sky Is an Elephant is part imaginary playmate, part near-death high jinks, and part love song from the body to the soul and back again. It’s a shaggy dog story, a story within a story, maybe even a koan. A little humor, a little Zagajewski. Finally, it’s in homage to poets Jack Spicer and Federico García Lorca, who played with the greathearted gift of poetry until the day they died. And after.