So Late Into the Night
by Elinor Nauen

Poems

"So Late into the Night summons the generosity and anguish of the 20th century's search for a kinder and better self. Nauen has written an epic masterwork in praise of the lyric impulse. Wide-eyed and knowing, So Late into the Night calls to the bewilderment we feel so early in the new century. This is one of the great long poems of our day, to be set next to W.C. Williams' Spring and All, and Mina Loy's Anglo-Mongrels and the Rose."

-Andrei Codrescu, author of The Poetry Lesson

"Just when I thought who could possibly care about “the book-length poem,” Elinor Nauen’s So Late into the Night peels up to the curb — and cannily using Byron’s worldly rhyme scheme, ottava rima, she whisks us right in. So Late is a particular poem, about the exact life of being a poet and writer, about the abiding allure of sex and love especially enduring love, about being a spouse, dare I say wife, and about loving your man, about baseball and god, and finally making it abundantly clear that Elinor Nauen mainly bothers herself about people and that her god is just fine with that. A proud Jew, she tells us that burning letters created the world and So Late into the Night reinstates that miracle, a sing-along road trip about being alive."

-Eileen Myles, author of Inferno (a poet’s novel)

"Elinor Nauen continues her reign as the exalted wordsmith, whether it be poetry, prose or watching a baseball game of her favorite shortstop bending over in a fielding position."

-Billy Sample, writer and former Major League Baseball player

Excerpt:
III: PINK HIGHWAYS