Reviews of A Bare Unpainted Table
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"Cardiff’s words are photographs of love and the double exposures of emotion. She captures the tenor of planes, the cartographies of moon and water. Her lines are cantilevers where two worlds meet."

—Diane Glancy

"When I first encountered the poems of Gladys Cardiff, almost two decades ago, I was struck by their power. Her first small collection of poems, To Frighten a Storm, drew its strength not only from her understanding of Cherokee culture, but also from the eloquent clarity of her language and her insight into the human heart. It was poetry that was deeply traditional and uniquely original. This long-awaited major collection demonstrates how Cardiff’s voice has grown and matured while losing none of that early energy. These literate, passionate poems of family and history, journeys of body and spirit, should find a wide and appreciative audience."

—Joseph Bruchac

"Gladys Cardiff is enrolled in the Eastern Band of Cherokee, but grew up and has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest. She is often grasped by something seen – a Victorian postcard picture of a stereotyped Indian woman, luna moths, Giacometti's changing use of space, two flocks of crows, a single crow; but also by situations – the final days of a couple's pet shop, a recording of a fatal airplane crash, an elder's courteous speech about repatriation, and someone else's need. Usually a poem has a comfortable length of line for its purpose, unfolds, and becomes complete (there is also a pantoum). One feels in the presence of eyes that see much, of maturity not easily won."

—The Virginia Quarterly Review