'Hal Judge is an energetic, risk-taking poet who is formulating a unique poetics. It is fascinating to watch something poetically 'new' take shape, watch it break out of its borders and boundaries and travel through different registers of language and experience. There is something of a troubadour about Judge, but a fiercely pro-active one: a combination of thrash guitarist and folk singer. He challenges the reader, he challenges the world-at-large, and he challenges his own perceptions. He is surrounded by poetry and pulls the threads together. A poet worth watching closely. - John Kinsella'