The poems in Ruth Bardon’s Witness are deceptively simple; they’re short and clear, and most focus on small episodes of daily life, starting with childhood and continuing into old age. The complexity comes from the ways in which the poems are infused with later knowledge, with understanding and compassion, and with a persistent awareness of the fragility and brevity of our lives.

2024 Finalist—Birdy Poetry Prize, by Meadowlark Press

If specificity is indeed universal, then Ruth Bardon’s Witness is a debut poetry collection for us all. Imbued with the rich details of life, these tightly crafted yet generous poems enlarge our days with vision and grace. “I think of how strong I was,” Bardon writes, “slicing through a world / where I couldn’t even breathe, / and claiming it as mine.” These are works of wonder and precision, and whether turning a keen eye toward a solar eclipse, a truck packed with caged chickens, strange new technologies, or her own indelible past, Bardon’s poems implore us to pay attention, to bear witness to the horrors and wild joys of existence.
—Jared Harél, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject

There’s a passion just below the surface of Ruth Bardon’s poems that sometimes rips its way out, as it does in the last lines of “Near the End”: “I just wanted to make my voice / into something jagged and sharp / and to slash somebody with it.” We’re not told exactly what’s going on in this hospital scene, but we sense the extreme emotion of the speaker. The same thing happens at the end of “Typography,” in which the good girl in nursery school misbehaves because after earning only green or yellow lights, she “wanted to know how red would feel.” But, in “Typography,” and in Bardon’s poetry in general, we’re more likely to find emotion expressed “by taking the time / to find the perfect word,” whether the poem is centered on the significant events of family life and stories of birth and death or on stories of hurricanes, floods, and Halley’s Comet. Dividing her poems into three sections—Early Years, Middle Years, Later Years—Bardon is “claiming [life] as mine,” and she claims it for us too, as witnesses.
—Brian Daldorph, Kansas Poems and Words Is a Powerful Thing

Witness explores the ways in which the stories that make up families continue to be written in the margins of our personal stories. Bardon’s intuition for narrative is guided by a poetic sensibility that uses images and lyricism to recreate memories and experiences. While time acts as the framework of Witness, its poems speak to the present moment in perceptive ways.Nuanced and inviting, Witness teaches us to see.
—José Angel Araguz, Rotura and Ruin & Want

In Witness, Ruth Bardon’s use of precise spare language and perfect metaphors captures and penetrates the essence of each subject like the stabbing of a squirming bug. It is a monument to modern life, full of understated emotion, excellent and fine. Thank you, Ruth, for giving the world this collection.
—Ruth Maus, Valentine and Puzzled

"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Bay State Book Company

North Smithfield, RI, U.S.A.

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since January 23, 2023

Shipping rates within U.S.A.

Item	4 to 11 business days	4 to 10 business days
First item	£ 0.00	£ 4.49

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.

Payment methods

Store description

We are a local book store that specializes in used books. Our delivery is quick. Same day shipping most of the time and most books arrive within 5 days or ordering.

Specialty

History, fiction, children's books

Seller's business information

Bay State Book Company LLC

473 saint paul st, suite 1 (Bay State Books)
North Smithfield, RI U.S.A. 02896

Contact sellerView this seller's itemsView seller's storefront

Right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

Information regarding the right of withdrawal

Statutory right to withdraw

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Bay State Book Company, North Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal does not apply to:

The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.

Witness (The Birdy Poetry Prize)

Bibliographic details

Synopsis

About the title

About the Author