Elise Nada Cowen (1933 - February 1, 1962, Washington Heights, Manhattan) was an American poet, part of the Beat generation. Born to a wealthy Jewish family in Long Island, New York, Cowen wrote poetry from a young age, enjoying the works of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Dylan Thomas. After her death her parents destroyed the bulk of her writings, however a number of poems from a box in the possession of her friend Leo Skir have been published. Cowen features prominently in Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson.