I am so pretty and perfect

in my ability to

be ugly and contorted.

-- Janice Brabaw, "A Sigh"

November 20, 2009 marks the official release date for Tongue For Folie, the second full-length collection of poetry by New York City writer Janice Brabaw.  Her sophomore effort appears shortly on the heels of her debut publication, Universe, Disturbed, which critics hailed as "full of raw emotion," "fine, powerful original poetry,"  "soft and fine like silk laced with strychnine" and "Prozac Nation in verse."  

Tongue for Folie is Universe, Disturbed all grown up - but yet still seeking, still struggling.  Now at thirty, Brabaw doesn't claim to have any answers to the questions posed in her earlier works, but continues to explore emotional quagmires with a rare grace, an open heart, and a captivating insight that infuses every line of her poetry.  Her work is deeply personal but yet universally appealing with its brutal candor and stripped-down humanity.


ADVANCED CRITICAL PRAISE FOR TONGUE FOR FOLIE

“Janice Brabaw’s new book is so rich with honest sentiment and crafted emotion that you just want to smile at it, hoping the words know how truly appreciated they are. Written with a tenderness often attempted, but rarely achieved, she has created a work that speaks to the hopeful insecurities within all of us. A universal, yet highly personal collection, it asks for your caring and attention whilst proudly standing on its own talented, thoughtful poetics. These endearing poems place Brabaw far above the merely cathartic writers of today, because her words evince an undeniable sense of empathy in the reader. In many ways, that is the highest goal of any poet. With this book, that goal is achieved, beautifully.”

D.E. Oprava
Poet and Publisher, Grievous Jones Press

“The writing of Janice Brabaw is a deeply personal journey. More honest than most, Brabaw’s poetry examines the joys and pains of simply being alive. It is truly a whimsical epic, a musical full of human anxiety, from a heart, that is thankfully, still full of an almost childlike sense of wonder. In this jaded age of virtual lost loves, I would sleep better at night if we all had a tongue for folie and an ear for beauty, that was half as powerful as Janice Brabaw’s. I can’t recommend this collection highly enough.”

John Dorsey
Author Sodomy is a City in New Jersey, American Mettle Books, 2010

"Strap yourself in: Tongue For Folie takes the reader on a whirlwind whiplash ride through the raging, passionate landscape of Janice Brabaw's life.  You'll encounter no stop signs; everything is Go, Go, Go!  If you hit a red light, Janice will plow through it anyway, then turn the wrong way on a one-way street.  Watch out for broken glass."

John Berbich
Editor, Barbaric Yawp

"Janice Brabaw's poems reminds me of a line from Carson McCuller's Ballad of the Sad Cafe; they are "wild, extravagant, and beautiful as the poison lillies of the swamp." Her poetry exposes all the uncomfortableness and beauty of what it means to be human, to be woman, to be artist, to be lover. In the process she reminds us that what is inside us--even (rather, especially) the scars and bruises and ugly bits--are rare and precious jewels, for they are what make us extraordinary machines."

Caroline Berger
Curator, Sunday Salon