Size of Your Joy: Poems

Size of Your Joy: Poems

For every woman who's ever held joy and sorrow in the same breath—this debut is a tender, powerful reminder that you are not alone​. The Size of Your Joy is an intimate and empowering exploration of the complex and often contradictory experiences of womanhood, offering an unflinching look at how identity, resilience, and self-worth are shaped by the intersections of love, grief, and longing. Through the birth of her daughter, the vital yet complicated relationships between the women in her life, and the realities of being a woman in the world, Powers reflects on how ideas of beauty, desire, and shame are quietly passed from one generation to the next, and what it takes to break those cycles. She examines the hunger—for belonging, autonomy, and joy—that women are taught to suppress, while imagining a path forward defined by liberation and self-acceptance. A celebration of reclamation, The Size of Your Joy asks how we might carry both sorrow and joy, loss and love, as dual forces that shape the stories we inherit and the lives we choose to create. This collection invites readers to embrace joy not as the absence of struggle, but as an act of defiance and hope.  “A necessary read for any woman who is sick of depriving herself. Powers’ poems trace a path from squeezing into the tired molds women are handed to unapologetically spilling over the top. The Size of Your Joy is an exploration of what women carry and a luminous reminder that there is always room for both our pain and our joy. Read this if you want to stop waiting to love your life.”  — Victoria Hutchins , author of Make Believe "Each poem felt like a generous treat, and how I wanted to savour them. Elise has such a gift for distilling the complexities of life, love, and longing into a few carefully chosen words. Her poetry is as powerful as it is gentle, the kind that lingers with you long after the page is turned. Her poems took me to so many places in so few lines, a true art, but also kind of magic." — Jessica Urlichs , author of Beautiful Chaos " The Size of Your Joy traces what it is to be a woman in love with an impossible world. From girlhood to womanhood, this book reminds us what's worth holding onto." — Joy Sullivan , author of Instructions for Traveling West “In her debut collection, Elise Powers looks skyward to joy while reckoning with what she assumes to be her birthright of heartache. Indeed, she appears to discover playfulness like a puppy locating its tail for the first time.” — Foreword Reviews "A tender exploration of womanhood, inheritance, and the brutal beauty woven through the everyday, The Size of Your Joy reminds us of the sacred ordinary. These are poems to return to again and again." — Danielle Coffyn , author of If Adam Picked the Apple “Elise’s poetry feels like a conversation with an old friend. A friend that knows all of your dirty little secrets, your missteps and imperfections, your wants and needs. Her writing is intimate, warm, and honest; something for your heart to grasp when you’re feeling too much.” — L.E. Bowman, author of The Evolution of a Girl, What I Learned from the Trees, and Shapeshifter  "There’s a popular saying on social media that's used to express this very specific feeling of seeing yourself in someone else's reflections: “Wow, there really isn’t a single unique experience in this world, is there?” I thought of it often while reading The Size of Your Joy, nodding my head along in agreement and solidarity and appreciation. Elise M. Powers writes with precision and poignance about the most personal of subject matter—and yet I often felt like she could have been writing to the tune of my own memories, putting words to the feelings that so many of us, apparently, secretly share. From the emotional gore of girlhood to the “series of soft failures, survived with love” that is early motherhood, Elise reminds us that we are never alone—not in our joy, and certainly not in our grief. The Size of Your Joy is as revelatory as it is relatable—a stunning, rich debut from a truly talented new voice that explores the gritty glory of modern womanhood with both wit and wisdom. From blood to bath time to breastfeeding and far beyond, Elise Powers makes magic of every topic she turns her attention toward." — Kelsey Lucas , creator of MotherSpeak (@motherspeak) "Slow, gentle, and delicious. Elise Powers' voluptuous and deeply human collection of poetry takes its time traversing the tangled threads of love, loss, and desire that weave through the female lineage, connecting the women who came before to those who are still becoming. The Size of Your Joy is a love letter to the Imperfect Woman, and a reminder to eat your cake." — Sarah , creator of Horrible Mean Bad Woman "Elise Powers' words are utterly delicious. Her writing feels like an extended conversation with an old friend that takes place during the years when you’ve both grown up enough to care less about what other