What do you think?
Rate this book
A Loaf Of Bread
A Loaf Of Bread is a requiem for the loss of the author's home land. During the years of the civil war in Syria, the author lost her father-in-law; he was buried in a hurry in some unrecognizable ground in Aleppo. Her aunt dies alone in a sieged nursing home; her belongings were stolen. Her father was flown ill around the USA on a stretcher; he never got to go back home to his village in Syria; his bones rattle in some cemetery in South Carolina. During the war, her house in Damascus was bombed. She followed the struggle of her friends and a thousands others as they boarded rubber boats and floated to the unknown; some drowned in the sea and some in their despair.
- GenresPoetry
36 pages, Paperback
Published January 10, 2019
About the author
Rana Bitar
5 books54 followersRana Bitar is a Syrian-American physician, poet, and writer. She earned her Master’s in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University.
Her memoir, The Long Tale of Tears and Smiles, was published by Global Collective Publishers in August 2021.
She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, A Loaf of Bread (Unsolicited Press, 2019) and the forthcoming Hold Your Breath (Unsolicited Press, 2023).
A Loaf of Bread was a finalist in the “Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition” in 2017 and won an honorable mention in “The 2017 Louis Award” for poetry.
Hold Your Breath is selected by The National Women’s History Museum to be on Exhibit for their Coronavirus Journaling Project.
Her poetry has appeared in many journals including, The Deadly Writers Patrol, DoveTales, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Magnolia Review, El Portal, Pacific REVIEW, Black Coffee Review, The Phoenix, The Dewdrop, The International Human Rights Art Festival, The Charleston Anvil, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Sextant Review, The Nonconformist Magazine, and Seeing Things: Anthology of Poetry.
Her translation of Arabic poetry appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, The Nonconformist, Illuminations, and forthcoming in AGNI
Her essays have been published in The Pharos Journal and Pink Panther Magazine.
She lives in upstate NY, where she practices hematology and oncology.
Her memoir, The Long Tale of Tears and Smiles, was published by Global Collective Publishers in August 2021.
She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, A Loaf of Bread (Unsolicited Press, 2019) and the forthcoming Hold Your Breath (Unsolicited Press, 2023).
A Loaf of Bread was a finalist in the “Concrete Wolf Chapbook Competition” in 2017 and won an honorable mention in “The 2017 Louis Award” for poetry.
Hold Your Breath is selected by The National Women’s History Museum to be on Exhibit for their Coronavirus Journaling Project.
Her poetry has appeared in many journals including, The Deadly Writers Patrol, DoveTales, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Magnolia Review, El Portal, Pacific REVIEW, Black Coffee Review, The Phoenix, The Dewdrop, The International Human Rights Art Festival, The Charleston Anvil, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, The Sextant Review, The Nonconformist Magazine, and Seeing Things: Anthology of Poetry.
Her translation of Arabic poetry appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, The Nonconformist, Illuminations, and forthcoming in AGNI
Her essays have been published in The Pharos Journal and Pink Panther Magazine.
She lives in upstate NY, where she practices hematology and oncology.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 9, 2019
Very vivid.
August 21, 2020
I have really enjoyed reading this poetry collection. A must read if you are into realistic poetry. Check out my detailed published review at the link below!
https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...
May 20, 2019
This was a very short but an extremely impressive collection of poetries. Pain, suffering, loss and death during war dealth with brilliance in writing and emotions. Deeply heart touching.
March 20, 2019
Beautiful yet tragic short poetry collection. Inhale Bitar's crushing emotions in one stunning session.
May 20, 2019
Th e horror people face
The unknown suffering of our fellow humans is so vast and for the most part silence. In this collection of poems we get a glimpse into the pain of living in a country at War.
This book really allowed me to understand what it’s really like to live in Syria.. to see your father need a doctor and you be able to do nothing. It also explains what it’s like to go out to get bread and not be able to go home because you have been recruited as a young boy to become a soldier.
I gave this book 5 stars because that’s the highest I could give it. This book really helps you realize what it is like to be scared and be Willdered is to live in a country you love, but no longer looks like the country you love.
The unknown suffering of our fellow humans is so vast and for the most part silence. In this collection of poems we get a glimpse into the pain of living in a country at War.
This book really allowed me to understand what it’s really like to live in Syria.. to see your father need a doctor and you be able to do nothing. It also explains what it’s like to go out to get bread and not be able to go home because you have been recruited as a young boy to become a soldier.
I gave this book 5 stars because that’s the highest I could give it. This book really helps you realize what it is like to be scared and be Willdered is to live in a country you love, but no longer looks like the country you love.
April 29, 2019
Poetry with feelings, Impressive
I had read no background on the author before I read her poetry but was able to deduct that she was somehow a refugee from a war torn place. Bitar is skilled at expressing how war has effected her. The poems are written from the perspective of a refugee, a solider, or the casualty. The poetry shows that all loose in a war torn area. Her poetry. really represents any area at war past or present. It could easily be describing the holocaust. I felt the emotion in her words. Rana Bitar is a skilled poet with beautifully crafted lines. I'm no expert on poetry but I would call these poems a winner
I had read no background on the author before I read her poetry but was able to deduct that she was somehow a refugee from a war torn place. Bitar is skilled at expressing how war has effected her. The poems are written from the perspective of a refugee, a solider, or the casualty. The poetry shows that all loose in a war torn area. Her poetry. really represents any area at war past or present. It could easily be describing the holocaust. I felt the emotion in her words. Rana Bitar is a skilled poet with beautifully crafted lines. I'm no expert on poetry but I would call these poems a winner
April 27, 2019
Know the anguish
Oh, these are heart-breaking poems, but they are real, a spoken testimony from the wreck and the hell that has become Syria. That the U.S. has shut its doors to Syrian refugees is one of the most heartless crimes of our era, just as bad as shutting away Jews who were trying to flee the Nazis. And yet the author is a survivor. She writes: "the opposite of death is not life. It is love."
Oh, these are heart-breaking poems, but they are real, a spoken testimony from the wreck and the hell that has become Syria. That the U.S. has shut its doors to Syrian refugees is one of the most heartless crimes of our era, just as bad as shutting away Jews who were trying to flee the Nazis. And yet the author is a survivor. She writes: "the opposite of death is not life. It is love."
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews