Elisa Gabbert

Jan 16, 2025 | nytimes.com | Elisa Gabbert

You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Masters of Allusion: The Art of Poetic ReferencePoets have a way of incorporating other poets into their work. Our columnist approves. Credit...Tom EtheringtonElisa Gabbert’s collections of poetry and essays include, most recently, “Normal Distance” and “Any Person Is the Only Self.” Her On Poetry columns appear four times a year. Jan.

Dec 30, 2024 | elisagabbert.medium.com | Elisa Gabbert

Elisa Gabbert·Follow37 min read·Dec 31, 2024--I started keeping these notes on my reading in 2015. That means this is my tenth list — ten years is a long time to do anything! In January, I wrote a little essay about what these lists have meant to me and how they’ve changed my reading, which is to say, my life. Some of what I read this yearThe biggest thing I did this year was put out a book. It’s called Any Person Is the Only Self, and it’s largely about reading.

Dec 7, 2024 | nytimes.com | Elisa Gabbert

A friend asked me recently what poetry is for. A somewhat difficult question! Another day, I may have answered differently, but on that occasion, I surprised myself by using the word religion. I was thinking of structure and practice - of dailiness and weekliness, of ritual, tradition, the way that returning again and again to foundational texts or the writing desk makes a certain order of experience more possible.

Sep 26, 2024 | thegeorgiareview.com | Elisa Gabbert

When I was nine or ten years old, my grandmother gave me a book full of so many random, interesting facts and tidbits of science and history I sometimes think it’s the secret source of all my adult obsessions. It was in this book that I first read about the mansions in Newport, those seaside castles constructed during the Gilded Age to showcase the wealth made possible, among other scandals, by a total lack of income taxes.

Jul 11, 2024 | thebeliever.net | Elisa Gabbert

1. My life in acrophobia:When I was eleven or twelve, I went with a friend to the pool at her family’s country club and somebody dared me to jump off the high dive—or maybe I just felt implicitly dared because the other kids were doing it. It wasn’t incredibly high, probably ten or twelve feet. I was not a good swimmer or diver, but I did have pride. As I climbed up the ladder, I knew I could not hesitate or I would freeze at the top.