As of 2007, very little biographical information was available concerning Liz Waldner. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but was raised primarily in rural Mississippi before moving on to St. John’s College, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy and mathematics. She later earned an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa and thereafter worked with various musicians and visual artists.

Waldner’s poetry has appeared in the Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, New American Writing, and Ploughshares as well as in such collections as Etym(bi)ology (2002) and Saving the Appearances (2004). A number of her books have been recognized with prestigious awards. A Point Is That Which Has No Part, in which “Witness” appears, received the 2000 James Laughlin Award. Self and Simulacra won the Alice James Books Beatrice Hawley Prize in 2001, and Dark Would (the missing person) won the University...