In this book you'll find poems that bear witness to the lives of women and children in Ireland under the founding of the new Irish State. As noted by editor Keith Payne,
'...These poems are where wounded women get to ‘speak in a bare tongue’, something they’ve never been given the chance to do before. And when we know there are women and children who ‘live in a wide open where not a single thing grows,’ it is our duty to act to the best of our abilities, and act, as Ní Churreáin tells us, knowing that ‘nothing tender can be left to chance alone.’ An act fundamental to being human. '