"Paloma kickstarts with 1996, a punk rock war-cry of nostalgia and a final lingering note of sadness. This, like many others in the collection, is a poem that resounds with everything oh-so-90s; but make no mistake, this is meant in the best possible way. A mixed tape soundtrack that plays like growing up, it sets the tone to whom this collection is dedicated– as much funeral dirge as it is love song for a sister and friend. The final line of the first poem rings melancholic: “Who’s gonna take care of us strays now?”
It is this echoing theme of finality, of trying to grasp the concept of loss, that carries on through the entire collection, questions of mortality and suffering scattered like the ashes of the departed, asking the question specifically in Lauren Kate is Dead: “Where the hell is this better place people are always talking about”"
part of a wonderful new review of the Blood Pudding Press poetry chapbook, "Paloma" by Jennifer E. Hudgens which appeared in a Featured Author section of SWIMMING WITH ELEPHANTS last month.
Read more here - https://swimmingwithelephants.com/2018/04/20/featured-swep-author-jennifer-e-hudgens/
Read more here - https://swimmingwithelephants.com/2018/04/20/featured-swep-author-jennifer-e-hudgens/
Acquire your own copy of Paloma here - https://www.etsy.com/listing/562664430/new-paloma-by-jennifer-e-hudgens?ref=shop_home_active_1
