Tides of Expectation

Tides of Expectation is evidence not only of a life well-lived, but of a life beautifully translated to verse. Here we have the discerning eye of the engaging memoirist coupled with a poet’s pressure on the line. The result is a book that dazzled me. It allures by precision of detail, wins us over by the humor found in unexpected places, and entertains us by the stories so very well told.
--BJ Ward, author of Jackleg Opera: Collected Poems, 1990 to 2013

Elane Gutterman can claim, as she does in one of these memoir poems, to be "The Reluctant Protester," but she is hardly resistant to the Resistance. It's just that not even her political poems are dominated by doctrine; rather, she develops her outward-looking civic and humanistic themes from very personal recollections and reveries into which she welcomes us with an outpouring of images and details. Tides of Expectation circumnavigates the latitudes of the earth and the longitudes of a poet joyously facing life and bravely facing mortality.
--James Penha, editor, The New Verse News

In Tides of Expectation, Elane Gutterman displays a wry humor and broad knowledge of modes of contemporary poetry as she delivers a rich collage of her life experiences. From the pen of a born storyteller, these skillful poems offer variety in abundance—including fascinating news items and multi-layered portraits of family, friends and acquaintances. However, the character that shines the brightest throughout is the narrator herself, as is suggested by the subtitle, Memoir Poems. What a treat it is to shadow Gutterman on her travels in Poland, Hungary, Israel, El Salvador, and East Africa, and to savor the foods she clearly enjoys preparing and eating! The fortitude and resolve that saw the poet through her bout with breast cancer are the backdrop to many of these finely drawn scenes, and the reader is left with the deep imprint of a strong and inspiring woman who, like her Ugandan safari guide Lilian, should never be underestimated.
--Anna M. Evans, author of Under Dark Waters: Surviving the Titanic