The Art of Restoration by Bart White
In The Art of Restoration we're always within an empathetic sensibility that may bring us to tears. I found myself caught up in Bart White's austere but still romantic poems. He is brutally honest with himself as he probes our human condition, realizes—makes real for himself—the often ironic beauty of nature, and, in William Stafford's words, places his feet with care in such a world. Here is a poet with a big heart & a brain singed by experience. This poet wants our company, and in many ways, we need his.
—William Heyen, author of Nature: New & Selected Poems 1970-2020
It is inevitable. We will all find ourselves, more than once, at the doorstep of a house we do not want to enter; and yet, with no other way forward, we must open and cross. We hope life will treat us kindly. Sometimes it does. The Art of Restoration is a gorgeous book of poetry. Readers will find in its poems an unflinching honesty that is both raw and luminous, a poet’s tender and skillful rendering of love’s most intimate griefs and life’s most unexpected mercies. —Elizabeth Johnston, author of Wild Things and Imago, Dei
Bart White’s The Art of Restoration takes a close look at generosity. Through his lens of what is most personal, in both public and private circumstances, we come to an understanding of what is universal in his lyric-narrative poems. We recognize our own lives in his hopes and fears as we experience first-hand the ways in which he expresses his faith, living day to day, trying to make sense of the unexpected crises that disturb his desire for happiness. —M.J. Iuppa, The Weight of Air and Rock. Paper. Scissors.
A native of North Carolina, Bart White lives in Rochester, NY, where he is active with Just Poets and with Yardbirds, a small group of friends who began meeting outdoors during the pandemic to read and critique each other’s poems. Bart White’s first collection of poetry, The Faces We Had As Children (FootHills, 2014) was nominated for a Pushcart prize. He has co-edited four poetry anthologies, most recently Civilization in Crisis: An anthology of poetic response (FootHills, 2021) and MOVING IMAGES: Poetry Inspired by Film (Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications, 2021).
