Spirit Encased, by Ellie M. Lundberg

Poetry, chapbook, 40 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Spirit Encased explores many themes of selfhood, what it means to belong in a family, love and where our home truly lies. This collection has a linear feel as it goes through childhood, adolescence, a trip far from home trying to connect to those invisible roots, falling in and out of yearning and infatuation, and what waits for us at the end of our life. Throughout it all there is a pulse, like a prayer, asking for guidance from god, ancestors, and her dreams through the journey for love, acceptance and celebration of self.

Whether because of circumstance, or because the next best life was always around the corner, Ellie was always on the move. These poems are an attempt to connect to family and reach back for a time and place that doesn’t really exist. We are reminded that home is a place we must create in ourselves again and again.

Ellie M. Lundberg grew up moving across the Great Plains and Great Lakes regions. Eventually dropping out of high school and hell bent on proving herself to everyone, she buried herself in classic literature and poetry to make up for her lack of formal education. In the meantime, she carved out a lucrative career in the beauty industry which took her to the west coast. She now lives and works in San Francisco, CA. This is her first poetry collection.