Era’s End by Elaine Zimmerman

Elaine Zimmerman’s powerful collection, Era’s End, spans the pandemic through poems of witness and participation. There is immensity and heart-breaking detail in her work –– worlds of animals and trees, humans and cargo planes. Her work refuses to separate politics from emotion and engaged action –– heart and policy, the news and inner life all belong together. Her poems advocate alongside those who are often not seen or listened to: “do not ignore our small and vast despair”.  I am so moved by her writing close to “the audacity of bone”, her attention to the risk and precariousness of our lives. “There is something unseen on fire” and together, we meet this urgency in her poetry.

–Meredith Stricker, author of REWILD, Dorset Prize, Tupelo Press

Elaine Zimmerman has truly unique ways of seeing and saying—in just a word or a phrase, she paints unforgettable images, most notable for their powerful juxtapositions, like cradling a sleeping infant during the January 6th insurrection. Her poems portray life at its most primal—the sadly all-too-familiar killings, pandemic, mudslides, droughts—yet the gift she gives us is to juxtapose these everyday horrors with the sheen of hope, dreams and laughter. This book is breath-taking and masterful!

–Ellen Galinsky, Author, Mind in the Making & The Breakthrough Years President, Families and Work Institute