What a fresh, disturbing new voice is found in this collection! Imagine the quirky, revelatory ways Emily Dickinson saw the world meshed with the succinct clarities of Lorine Niedecker. Now add a dose of H. P. Lovecraft, and you have some sense of the triumph these surprising poems achieve.

— Marc Harshman, Poet Laureate of WV

Before reading Whipstitches, I had never felt particularly drawn to poetry, but Ward’s poetry is accessible for those who may not be accustomed to reading poetry. Her work is artful and her lyrical voice and vivid word choice paint pictures and make connections to the Appalachian experience.

— Heather Dent, Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College

Such poems hint at realms of suffering behind the crystalline words on the page. And the speaker in “Gate” has a profound ambivalence about home that outshines dozens of overblown memoirs of family dysfunction, abuse, and mental illness. This kind of writing shames us all for our sloppy purple prose and prosy poetry.

— Meredith Sue Willis, author of Their Houses and Saving Tyler Hake

Randi Ward is a quintessential cosmopolitan West Virginian. Initially published in 30 different magazines, these poems are very short yet packed with a rare combination of strikingly thought-provoking phrases and brilliant imagery.

— George Brosi, editor and founder of Appalachian Mountain Books

While the title alludes to traditional practices, this volume strategically eludes convention. Engagement with place in Whipstitches is impressive in its complexity, powerful in its vision. These fine poems cut and suture; they behold, gather, and claim the wounds of home.

— Sally Rosen Kindred, author of Where the Wolf and Book of Asters

Ward’s tiny poems, sometimes no more than 10 words in full, have a soul. They have a light. Whipstitches uses the framework of a year to patch together a whole and complete picture of a place—all of the life contained within this place, all of the energy, all of the stories.

— Hannah Wendlandt, Cleaver Magazine