Come Back For a Little Bit — Elle Warren
Come Back For a Little Bit is a surreal and daydreamy collection asking the question “what if?” in the face of momentous grief. What if we got to opt out of time and stay holed up in our childhood bedroom forever? What if we got to avoid the worst things to happen to us? Is that worth missing out on the best? Interwoven with grief are themes of queerness, OCD, panic, longing, and becoming oneself not out of choice but out of necessity to survive. The determination to feel alive is palpable with lines like, “If I couldn’t see the sun, I’d cut it out from construction paper” and the assurance that, despite the darkness, “everything the sun made is still here.
Come Back For a Little Bit is a surreal and daydreamy collection asking the question “what if?” in the face of momentous grief. What if we got to opt out of time and stay holed up in our childhood bedroom forever? What if we got to avoid the worst things to happen to us? Is that worth missing out on the best? Interwoven with grief are themes of queerness, OCD, panic, longing, and becoming oneself not out of choice but out of necessity to survive. The determination to feel alive is palpable with lines like, “If I couldn’t see the sun, I’d cut it out from construction paper” and the assurance that, despite the darkness, “everything the sun made is still here.
Come Back For a Little Bit is a surreal and daydreamy collection asking the question “what if?” in the face of momentous grief. What if we got to opt out of time and stay holed up in our childhood bedroom forever? What if we got to avoid the worst things to happen to us? Is that worth missing out on the best? Interwoven with grief are themes of queerness, OCD, panic, longing, and becoming oneself not out of choice but out of necessity to survive. The determination to feel alive is palpable with lines like, “If I couldn’t see the sun, I’d cut it out from construction paper” and the assurance that, despite the darkness, “everything the sun made is still here.
Praise for Come Back For a Little Bit
”In Come Back For a Little Bit we find grief on carnival rides and in childhood bedrooms, then get lost in dreams that test the boundaries of here and not here. Elle Warren’s poetry is heavy with love, thick with memory. These poems juggle tenderness and desperation with the same pair of hands and then invite you to do the same. Validating and comforting all in one breath, Come Back For a Little Bit is a stunning collection from a skilled poet. If you've ever known loss, watched it shapeshift and shove itself into the crevices of your life, then this book needs to be on your shelf.”
—Caitlin Conlon, author of The Surrender Theory
”Time disappears reading Elle Warren’s Come Back For a Little Bit, and you’ll want to stay for as long as possible. These poems read of warm nostalgia ‘with static streets covered in snow,’ of grief and how it can be a carnival, of love and hope, and all of the poems she offers us to be a part of her world are visceral with vulnerability. This book guides you through life and to see outside the eyes; you’re used to seeing the world within, and you'll be grateful to see it from her vision.”
—Sarah Bellum Mental, author of Buried Bones Home
”Come Back For a Little Bit by Elle Warren cultivates a lush and vibrant garden to adorn a void left by grief. This book is a witness to the quiet conversations, revery and memory, moments we long for our most internal comforts, and moments we realize how to carry all this and still seek and run toward certain and unquestionable joy.”
—Kristian Macaron, author of Recipe for Time Travel in Case We Lose Each Other
About the Author
Elle Warren is a poet and writer exploring grief, depression, OCD, queerness, joy, and a fierce commitment to being alive. She writes about her life in the hopes it helps other people get through theirs. She has a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Come Back For a Little Bit is her first published book. She is also working on a memoir. You can sign up for her (free) newsletter, tinyletter.com/ellewarren or her (not free) poem-a-month mail subscription via patreon.com/ellewarren.
