Hindsight 20/40 by Liz Whiteacre

“Have you ever wanted to commune with your younger self—the younger version of who you are today? In this innovative and fascinating collection of poems and images, Liz Whiteacre takes on that very question. At 20, the poet is eager for the world and beginning to see its ephemeral beauty. At 40, the poet is wiser, smarter, and a concerned mother to her own daughter. It’s a compelling conceit, and Liz Whiteacre carries it off in a spirit of compassion for the young woman she once was and the poet she has always been. Looking back, she gives us poems that can serve all our uncertain and yet promising futures.”

–Allison Joseph, author of Confessions of a Barefaced Woman, Lexicon, and Dwelling

“In Hindsight 20/40, Liz Whiteacre engages her younger self by responding to poems she wrote at age 20 (a move many of us have longed to do but have lacked the courage to attempt) and does so with aplomb. The poems triangulate a reflective stance tough to achieve in a collection: readers get the twenty-something point of view on first love, physical maturation, and loss; the forty-something perspective on similar themes; and the sense of how the older woman feels about Young Girl’s assertions. Lines with bold insight deliver wisdom: “serendipity / flirts most with the prepared;” “later, you will catch / yourself the kind of pain / you can’t swallow.” Hindsight 20/40 sparkles with surprise turns of language. Whiteacre’s sharp sense of craft inflects a surreal quality: “You’re the moon / that hunger will gnaw,” and “I sense nuances of blues.” So often, the poems achieve both clarity and blur making this book a wise delight of poems.”

–Christine Stewart-Nuñez author of The Poet & The Architect: Poems and Chrysopoeia: Essays

“In Hindsight 20/40, Liz Whiteacre’s poems draws the reader into moments of quiet reflection and piercing realizations about life and nature. In “Portrait of Mourning in the Coop,” Whiteacre weaves grief into the natural world. The hawks’ swift violence mirrors the unpredictability of life. Similarly, in the poem, “Deck Dining Rant,” Whiteacre contrasts various noises related to everyday life—gnats, gasoline blowers, the pursuit of artificial perfection—with the quiet rhythms of the earth. With a keen eye for detail and an unflinching willingness to confront both beauty and destruction, Whiteacre’s collection is both a lament and a plea for us to revere those things that connect us. Hindsight 20/40 is a meditation on life and how we approach it.”

–Angela Jackson-Brown author of House Repairs and Untethered