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Maiden, Mother, Crone: A collection of poetry
Maiden, Mother, Crone is a glimpse into the mind of a woman as she contends with her life’s experiences. The book is divided into 3 sections each one a stage of womanhood. Each poem an experience as she moves through these 3 stages of womanhood. Maiden is a young woman trying to find herself, find someone to love, begin to heal herself, understand where she fits in the world. Mother is a blend of motherhood and divorce – they went hand in hand. Crone is the later years in life. Looking back from where she has been and forward to what is left. Throughout she is trying to find peace and acceptance with herself and her world. Somewhere you may recognize pieces of your story too.
- GenresPoetry
190 pages, Hardcover
Published July 6, 2022
6 people want to read
About the author
Amba Elieff
5 books1 followerAmba has been a closet poet most of her life. She has always used poetry as a way of capturing the challenges and celebrations of life. A way of understanding her world. That world included growing up and living in the same Ohio town for 50 years. She graduated from Miami University, started a career, got married, had babies, and got divorced. Her corporate job allowed her to work virtual so she got to be an at home mom. Being at home with her girls was important to her. At the age of 50 she started over. After 20 years she was let go from her good corporate job, fell in love, moved to Kentucky, went back to school, became a massage therapist, got married, and began sharing her writing on social media. All of her poetry reflects the life she has experienced. What she has learned is that it is the experience of many others too. Her first collection of poetry, Maiden, Mother, Crone was published in July 2022. She looks forward to publishing her second volume early 2023.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 27, 2025
“...you always wonder if everyone else is actually telling the truth.”
MAIDEN MOTHER CRONE brings to mind something a professor once said in my undergraduate Intro to Poetry class: “Poetry should do more than serve the poet alone.” Her blunt phrasing aside, her point was clear—if poetry functions solely as personal expression without offering something broader to the reader, it becomes self-contained rather than resonant. Much of this collection falls into that category. These poems read like journal entries—valuable as a means of personal exploration but lacking the universality that makes poetry meaningful to a wider audience.
Here are a few of the many issues with this text:
• Not one poem in this collection has a title and none of them have any punctuation. None! And both devices are used for no purpose.
• The collection has many moments of the absolutely insipid. There is a poem on page 17 about nuclear bombs. It is the perfect example of shallowness trying to disguise itself as deep.
• There are some poems about Covid. They are dreadful.
• There are a few moments in this collection where there might be a decent poem, but then it is followed by pages and pages of the worst sort of navel gazing.
To be fair, there are moments of merit within the collection. Without titles to reference, I’ll note that the poem on page 22, which reflects on quilts, and the one on page 96, exploring a woman’s life cycle, stand out as exceptions. These pieces manage to rise above the collection’s overall self-absorption, offering glimpses of something more universal. Additionally, there were scattered moments—an evocative image here, a striking line there—that hinted at potential, only to be overshadowed by a lack of cohesion, trapped in an inferior piece.
The collection concludes with poems written in response to Instagram prompts and challenges, a fitting end for a work that often feels more like a compilation of personal social media posts than a refined body of poetry.
There is better poetry out there. On to it!
MAIDEN MOTHER CRONE brings to mind something a professor once said in my undergraduate Intro to Poetry class: “Poetry should do more than serve the poet alone.” Her blunt phrasing aside, her point was clear—if poetry functions solely as personal expression without offering something broader to the reader, it becomes self-contained rather than resonant. Much of this collection falls into that category. These poems read like journal entries—valuable as a means of personal exploration but lacking the universality that makes poetry meaningful to a wider audience.
Here are a few of the many issues with this text:
• Not one poem in this collection has a title and none of them have any punctuation. None! And both devices are used for no purpose.
• The collection has many moments of the absolutely insipid. There is a poem on page 17 about nuclear bombs. It is the perfect example of shallowness trying to disguise itself as deep.
• There are some poems about Covid. They are dreadful.
• There are a few moments in this collection where there might be a decent poem, but then it is followed by pages and pages of the worst sort of navel gazing.
To be fair, there are moments of merit within the collection. Without titles to reference, I’ll note that the poem on page 22, which reflects on quilts, and the one on page 96, exploring a woman’s life cycle, stand out as exceptions. These pieces manage to rise above the collection’s overall self-absorption, offering glimpses of something more universal. Additionally, there were scattered moments—an evocative image here, a striking line there—that hinted at potential, only to be overshadowed by a lack of cohesion, trapped in an inferior piece.
The collection concludes with poems written in response to Instagram prompts and challenges, a fitting end for a work that often feels more like a compilation of personal social media posts than a refined body of poetry.
There is better poetry out there. On to it!
October 8, 2022
I thought this was a lovely debut book of personal poetry. I could easily follow along in the poet’s journey through her life. My favorite poem (they were untitled) was about “the man’s disease.” My husband even enjoyed and identified with it. I hope to see more from this poet.
December 30, 2022
This collection opens with a poem reading “I am a plain poet, my prose is not full of literary devices, flowery words, it is written to tell stories”. This quote sums up this entire book.
Amba Elieff does indeed write plain poetry, lacking in what makes poetry beautiful. She quite simply writes Instagram poetry: a few unoriginal sentences with line breaks at random moments.
A poem of hers that I have been unable to stop thinking about, not because it impacted me or struck me as brilliant, but because of its absurdity, is a two-page long collection of lines listing cereals in her house. She spends an entire stanza explaining that the red berries in Special K cereal are strawberries, and that strawberries are a fruit, and that if you mix Special K Red Berries with Special K Chocolate Chunk, you will have both fruit and chocolate. And she uses as much creative language as I did in the previous sentence.
I think it is time for someone, anyone, to explain to all of the Instagram poets in the world that poetry should be more than typing down your various thoughts and hitting the enter key every now and then.
Amba Elieff does indeed write plain poetry, lacking in what makes poetry beautiful. She quite simply writes Instagram poetry: a few unoriginal sentences with line breaks at random moments.
A poem of hers that I have been unable to stop thinking about, not because it impacted me or struck me as brilliant, but because of its absurdity, is a two-page long collection of lines listing cereals in her house. She spends an entire stanza explaining that the red berries in Special K cereal are strawberries, and that strawberries are a fruit, and that if you mix Special K Red Berries with Special K Chocolate Chunk, you will have both fruit and chocolate. And she uses as much creative language as I did in the previous sentence.
I think it is time for someone, anyone, to explain to all of the Instagram poets in the world that poetry should be more than typing down your various thoughts and hitting the enter key every now and then.
July 29, 2023
Amba,
You are beautiful. Reading this book felt like reading a story that cut to the bone or talking to a friend. Yet, it was easy to read. There was no fluff or filler. The frankness of your work is your greatest strength. Your work is inspiring. Vulnerability is hard. Thank you for sharing your life with me.
You are beautiful. Reading this book felt like reading a story that cut to the bone or talking to a friend. Yet, it was easy to read. There was no fluff or filler. The frankness of your work is your greatest strength. Your work is inspiring. Vulnerability is hard. Thank you for sharing your life with me.
November 6, 2022
Amba’s poetry touched my soul. I found myself relating to so many of her poems, which was comforting. I can’t wait for her next installment!
June 28, 2023
I really like the poems. I could so relate to many of them.
October 30, 2025
Beautiful and Heartfelt
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews