Works by
Elizabeth Spires
(Writer)

Children's Books

• Count With Me (1981)

• The Falling Star (1981)

• Simon's Adventure (1982) with Judy Hand, Illustrator

• The Mouse of Amherst (1999) with Claire A. Nivola (Illustrator)
  When a mouse named Emmaline takes up residence behind the wainscoting of Emily Dickinson's bedroom, she wonders what it is that keeps Emily scribbling at her writing table throughout the day and into the night. Emmaline sneaks a look, and finds that it's poetry! Inspired, Emmaline writes her own first poem and secretly deposits it on Emily's desk. Emily answers with another poem, and a lively exchange begins. In this charming and fanciful introduction to Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Spires demonstrates the power of poetry to express our deepest feelings, while Claire A. Nivola's delicate pencil drawings capture the intricacies of life in Emily's world. Included are eight of Dickinson's most loved poems, with seven corresponding poems by Emmaline that are sure to bring out the poet in any child.

• I Am Arachne: Fifteen Greek and Roman Myths (2001)
  In this singular collection, the heroes and heroines of fifteen Greek and Roman tales give their own dramatic, first-person accounts of events. From the magnificent spinner Arachne, who learns that a mortal should never challenge a god, to the god Pan, who prefers Earth to Mount Olympus, to the beautiful, self-indulgent Pandora and the gold-stricken Midas -- the reader becomes a confidant to the tellers of these sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, always engaging tales of wonder, woe, romantic love, and jealousy.
  
  Mordicai Gerstein's energetic, whimsical illustrations combine with Elizabeth Spires' playful renditions for a totally fresh take on familiar and not-so-familiar myths.

• The Big Meow (2002) with Cynthia Jabar (Illustrator)
  Little Cat bothers the other cats with his loud meow, but it comes in handy when they are chased by a nasty bulldog.

Poetry

• Boardwalk (1980)

• Globe (1981)

• Swan's Island (1985)

• Annonciade (1989)

• Worldling (1995) -- Winner 1996 Whiting Award
  In her fourth collection of poems Elizabeth Spires addresses the elemental subjects of life and of literature: birth, death, creation, and intimations of immortality. The first section focuses on the experiences of conception, pregnancy, and childbirth from the points of view of both mother and child. The second section offers a reversal and reply in which the poems move out into a divided and divisive world. These poems are distinguished by an immaculate lyricism, a pristine sense for the natural world and the rhythms of language.

• Now the Green Blade Rises (2002)
  Opening with a powerful sequence of poems about her mother's death, Elizabeth Spires writes about the life-and-death matters of midlife: the separation of parent from child, the loss of family and friends, the evolving nature of our closest friendships. These poems find hope in the seasonal and spiritual moment when "the green blade rises."

Other

• With One White Wing:  Puzzles In Poems And Pictures (1995)

• Riddle Road: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures (1999) with Erik Blegvad, Illustrator
  Here is a brand new collection of twenty-six puzzles to tease and tantalize young riddle lovers everywhere. With both verbal and pictorial hints to make the guessing more fun, the answers to these riddles range from pillows and pincushions to hot dogs and ladybugs.

  Can you guess who is speaking in this riddle?

  I eat words wherever
  I find them but am no wiser.
  Keep your books under lock and key
  or they'll be devoured by me!

  If you can't guess the answer, look inside the book at the picture on page 13 for more clues.

  In their sequel to With One White Wing: Puzzles in Poems and Pictures, award-winners Elizabeth Spires and Erik Blegvad have once again seamlessly blended words and images to create a delightful assortment of riddles to be enjoyed by young and old alike.

See also:

• MSS Spring 1981 (1981), John Gardner and L. M. Rosenberg, eds.
  A collection of poems by many different authors, including Alexis Khoury, Andrew Hudgins, Barry Targan, Carl Dennis, David Wagoner, Elizabeth Spires, Greg Michaelson, Heather McHugh, Howard Nemerov, James Dickey, James Paul, Joanna Higgins, Linda Pastan, Michael Milburn, Mildred Seydel, Milton Kessler , Peter Whalen, Roberta Guptal, Ron Hansen, Sheila Schartz, Sigrid Nunez, Steven Bauer, Susan Wood, authors; and Barry Moser and Ken Morrow, Illustrators.

• The Instant of Knowing (1997), Elizabeth Spires and  Josephine Jacobsen, eds.
  The Instant of Knowing: Lectures, Criticism and Occasional Prose joins recent collections of Jacobsen's poetry and short stories, bringing together for the first time the highlights of this distinguished poet's long and varied career as a literary critic, lecturer, and reviewer. Of special interest are two lectures delivered at the Library of Congress while she was Consultant in Poetry there, and a rich assortment of never before collected op-ed and travel pieces from the Baltimore Sun. The volume also includes critical pieces on Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, Robert Lowell, A.R. Ammons, Samuel Beckett, and J.D. Salinger; an unpublished lecture, "The Admiring Bog," on the perils of poetic celebrity; and an extended interview with John Wheatcroft. The book is edited and introduced by the poet Elizabeth Spires, and concludes with three recent, uncollected poems of Jacobsen's.

• Ploughshares Winter 1999-2000 (1999), Elizabeth Spires and Madison Smartt Bell, eds.
  Contributors to this issue include: Aliki Barnstone, Allen Grossman, Andrew Zawacki, Belle Waring, Bethalee Jones, Brian Glaser, Bruce Beasley, C. Dale Young, Carol Frost, Carolyn Cooke, Charles Harper Webb, Christine Stewart, Cleopatra Mathis, Cynthia Huntington, Cynthia Kadohata, D. Nurkse, David Lehman, Dinah Berland, Erika Krouse, Frank X. Gaspar, Geoffrey Becker, George Garrett, Greg Glazner, Jane Shore, Jeffrey Harrison, Jennifer Tseng, John Bensko, John McManus, John Robinson, Jonathan David Jackson, Jonathan Musgrove, Josephine Jacobsen, Kate Borowske, Kathy Mangan, Laurie Greer, Lia Purpura, Loren Graham, Mark Wunderlich, Mary-Beth Hughes, Maxine Kumin, Michael Collier, Michael Tyrell, Michael Waters, Patrick Phillips, Penelope Austin, Phillis Levin, Samara Kanegis, Stanley Plumly, Sue Owen, Susan Stewart, Theodore Deppe, Timothy Donnelly, Virgil Suarez, Walt Foreman, William Heyen, and Wyn Cooper.