“Paloma” is fascinating both in style and content. Hudgens uses interesting structural choices to create what act as staccato thoughts, which is appropriate— the collection is dedicated to their late friend Lauren, and each piece holds a memory as delicately as you would a butterfly’s wing. “Part of me is hoping you faked your own death” Hudgens says in “Smart Money’s on Harlow”. “The dead will laugh at our/ foolish living” they say in “Old Photos”. This collection, beautifully hand bound by Blood Pudding Press, is a love letter to those who have left, and those who are left behind.
Kolleen Carney-Hoepfner, Editor-in-Chief