'Flat Exit is about greetings and departures, learning to let go and circle back to pick up what remains. These poems jump between north-eastern Victoria and Melbourne, romantic and platonic relationships, moments of personal triumph and those of shellshocked grief.
'Collected here in this sequence, they explore the dislocation that occurs when moving from regional Australian to its urban mass, and when falling in and out of love for the first time. The poems revolve from homesickness, to self-care, to finding a soul to complement my own at an unexpected time and in an unexpected place – and life before and after the death of a close friend.
'Many of these poems are autobiographical; some are fiction. My intention is not to be confessional but – as Gwen Harwood says – to establish 'a way of seeing'. Mine, as it's been so far.' (Publication summary)
'In his debut poetry collection, Flat Exit, Broede Carmody writes with surety and a richness of feeling. His purpose is to establish “a way of seeing” — he quotes his favourite poet, Gwen Harwood, in his Preface — and he stakes his claim with the words: “Mine, as it’s been so far” (xi). “So far” is a lifetime measured out in words. Short words for a young life: Carmody is in his mid-twenties. It seems that Carmody’s youth gives him a fresher voice, an edgier perspective, than other more established poets while his wide-reading in literature is evident in the polyphony of influences audible behind his warmly-inflected poetic voice.' (Introduction)
'In his debut poetry collection, Flat Exit, Broede Carmody writes with surety and a richness of feeling. His purpose is to establish “a way of seeing” — he quotes his favourite poet, Gwen Harwood, in his Preface — and he stakes his claim with the words: “Mine, as it’s been so far” (xi). “So far” is a lifetime measured out in words. Short words for a young life: Carmody is in his mid-twenties. It seems that Carmody’s youth gives him a fresher voice, an edgier perspective, than other more established poets while his wide-reading in literature is evident in the polyphony of influences audible behind his warmly-inflected poetic voice.' (Introduction)
