“I am greatly impressed with Elizabeth’s care and tenderness, her generosity, the sheer tenacity and, overall, the skill of her work in presenting this personal and social history.”

—Maureen Hynes, author of Take the Compass 

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“Presented in four parts, This Report Is Strictly Confidential sets fire to what’s been hidden and blazes with beauty and cutting truths. Brimming with grace, acuteness and musical precision, these poems are both intimate and exact, and ‘like gold, weigh more than water.’ Dedicated to the memory of Ruth’s aunt—who spent thirty years in an institution—this debut collection honours, reveals, nourishes and sustains.” 

—Catherine Graham, author of Put Flowers Around Us and Pretend We’re Dead: New and Selected Poems

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“These unflinching poems explore the ways in which human beings survive and bond with each other despite betrayal by institutions, family, lovers, and even our own bodies. Elizabeth Ruth understands that what makes us human is our shared experiences: love, heartache, rage, an irrational search for hope, and even, occasionally, the ability to find humour in the deepest despair.”

—Emily Pohl-Weary, author of Ghost Sick and How to Be Found

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“rather than writing about folx as outside normal Elizabeth Ruth gathers & centres them \ understands differences as iridescent jewels & gaudy crowns \ her poems repeatedly ask the reader to consider what it is not to belong \ they establish a path acknowledging that a lifetime trying to be herself requires that we share language & build stories directed by Amelia Earhart arms \ her poems resist normative attempts at cure & treatment moving the reader to remember : our best measure is compassion”

—nancy viva davis halifax, author of act normal, associate professor in critical disability studies in the Faculty of Health at York University

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“What a captivating collection! Elizabeth Ruth cracks open the vault of confidentiality—of institutionalization, letters, absent fathers, cancer, well-wishes, family. These poems are fierce and playful and full of love.”

—Anne Fleming, author of Curiosities