AustLit

'Janet Kenny sings-nowhere more so than in this new collection, This Way to the Exit. Music is the underlying trope, symbol and technique of Janet Kenny's outstanding poetic oeuvre, whether as the dedication to this volume ('to music'), or as the explicit (or implicit but vital) topic of so many of her individual poems ('To Franz Schubert', 'Celebrity Recital', 'Antal Szalai's Gypsy Band ...', 'Out Loud', ), or as the incidental figures within poems formally focused elsewhere ('Takeoff' or 'Mangoes'), or (to flip the trope) as Muzak, betokening the god-awful object of the poet's satire ('Butterflies'), or, most quintessentially, as the pervasive word-music that is the emblematic quality of this poet's work. Janet Kenny is a musician, and it really shows in this book. While always remaining true to her individual vision, her work should be placed in the Australian poetic pantheon not very far from Judith Wright's, for its richness, its finely nuanced responsiveness to Australia and its natural and human environment, and for its deep humanity. Paul Stevens~Editor, The Chimaera, The Flea, SCR' (Publisher's blurb)