Poems on the Precipice

On the precipice, there are chalkboards, Beanie Babies, strollers, dragon nuns, Mad Libs, manilla folders! These vibrant poems journey from the "soft swell hidden beneath books and bags slung belly up" to "gray dust - all that remains / of you." Each poem carries the poignancy of a freshly sharpened pencil. Moments pass, the poet wisely notes, "as time must do;" still, we revel in the "sweet smells" of home-baked cookies as much as "that smell of polish and disinfectant." This necessary antidote to our oft-stricken world wryly, gently reminds us of small ecstasies: graffiti, "lingering doorway hellos," "speckled mist." I love these lyrical anecdotes - their dearness, their sacred trust in children, literature, memory, their "faith in equilibrium." Despite the mortal struggle, onward we cartwheel.

-Alessandra Lynch, poet, author, Wish Ave

Elise is an intuitive guide. Like a magnet, her poetry takes us to the brink of innocence and experience. Brave, sorrowful and ticklish vistas steer us inward, reminding us that freedom is felt in the nose and lungs, something we can inhale; and facing truths eases the descent.

-Maureen McNeil, author, the Anna Magdalena trilogy

A reader can feel the sand sift through the hourglass in these moving and beautiful poems. With a very human eye at its center, Chadwick's poetry looks out at the shifts in life, the long climb toward death, but always with humor and kindness at its core. In this collection emerges a loving concern for others - students, children, grandchildren, strangers in a cancer ward - as well as the revelations of the self, the writer as fellow traveler. The book's focus is on living with eyes open, with heart open to spring as well as winter, with getting to the essence of life with directness and strength.

-Kevin Boyle, author, Astir and A Home for Wayward Girls