It has been such a long wait. But the day has come. The World You Now Own is finally in print and will soon be available at better bookstores. The collection can now be purchased online directly from the publisher, Ekstasis Editions, by clicking on this link.

This has been a marathon project. The writing began during the pandemic. When the worst of that had passed, more writing and editing was done. Unexpected challenges developed that delayed matters, but now, that is all history.

The World You Now Own is a hybrid collection. It begins with new poems — some previously published in literary journals and some not — and concludes with a novella in verse entitled “Deliverance 1961: A Novella in Thirty-Two Cantos”. This latter work is told largely in flashbacks and concerns a chance meeting between two troubled characters (Miss Egg and Mr. Ashe) on a train travelling eastward from Vancouver to Toronto. “Deliverance 1961” is a purely fictional period piece that follows a punishingly difficult stanza structure and rhyme scheme. Noteworthy literati from the Canadian scene in the early 1960s such as Alice Munro and Ethel Wilson make cameo appearances.

Frances Boyle — the talented poet and prose writer known for titles such as Openwork and Limestone, Seeking Shade and Light-Carved Passages — has kind words for The World You Now Own.  In the cover endorsement she kindly penned for the collection, she stated in part:

“…Bridgman engages in technical feats throughout, with his formal invention particularly evident in the novella in verse that rocks along like its passenger train setting, where two characters confront their pasts and (potential) futures.”