SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE (BEST FIRST COLLECTION) 2011

Judy Brown’s beautiful first collection of poetry is called Loudness. A straightforward manner and a gift for ironic humour belie the artful complexities and the exacting observations evident in her work.

Titles like ‘The ExPats’, ‘The P45’, ‘The Crash’, kick start edgy narratives featuring characters who will suffer for their modern sins. Alternatively there are also disquisitions on colour, perception, ex-angels, spontaneous combustion and other mysterious phenomena. This baroque quality, along with her sudden modulations of tone and register, and a keenly sensuous appreciation of the physical world, is reminiscent of the metaphysical poets. She is an outstanding and original new voice in modern poetry.

"The poems are layered with intricate, precise observations, often from surprising and innovative perspectives... There is a seriousness of craft here, but the poetry is not without humour; a quiet irony or a dark thread of mischief often lurks just below the surface..." -- Jan Fortune-Wood Envoi Issue 146