Understories (Inanna, 2014)
Understories is an exploration of things visible mostly to the inner eye and memory, things below the surface. It explores loss, but also recovery through memory and language.
Two poems in Understories were short-listed for the Descant/ Winston Collins Prize in 2011 and 2013.
Praise for Understories:
"A layered, compelling collection that maps genealogies and tenuous, emerging flocks of selves. At once lyric and storied, Greene's poems celebrate discovering community and living a poetic life with the cards we are dealt. Thank goodness Greene has, in her fine poetry, dared to disturb the universe."
--Jeanette Lynes, author of Archive of the Undressed and The Factory Voice
"These deep down understories below the surface connect us all.--Jason Heroux, author of Natural Capital and Good Evening, Central Laundromat
"You have to listen closely to Elizabeth Greene, whether stopped on the street or between the covers of her books. If you don't, you might miss something."
--Merilyn Simonds, Kingston Whig Standard
Link to Publisher
Excerpt from the book
What I Like About Poetry
It says, I prefer not to.
It doesn't persuade, exhort,
encourage, scold or ask for
money. It doesn't say, YOU can help.
It doesn't tell you to lose weight,
try botox or Viagra. It doesn't say
have a good day.
Prickly, seductive, lyric, abrasive,
there's the poem. Read it or not,
like it or not, it shrugs, persists.
It doesn't promise white teeth or
true love. You can enter or you can
walk away.