HUSH CANDY, revised edition - poetry by Missy Brownson

Publication Date: December 31, 2023

Paperback, 64 pages

ISBN: 978-1-956782-58-5

$18.00, exclusively from publisher

In this accomplished and sure first collection (now in a revised and expanded second edition), poet Missy Brownson revisits the venerable genre of domestic advice manuals, those 19th and 20th century compendia of wisdom designed to guide women (especially aspiring women of the rising middle class) in the exercise of their proper roles in the home and society. Her response is a wicked and witty rejoinder from the perspective of a contemporary woman navigating the changing and challenging terrain of gender expectations and sexual politics and possibilities. The contrast can be hilarious, as in the poem “On Buying Produce”, where a snippet of Victorian era advice on “the ripeness of Fruits” prefaces an encounter with a former lover in the grocery, “a man / that was once a boy / whose hands memorized my body / in borrowed beds.” But there is a seriousness to this venture, especially the poems in the section “Good Daughter Wants” with just a hint of nostalgic regret, that there are no guides, no easy advice, for this most essential woman’s work of finding her way in the world, “to free that girl, / the one / least expected but / most likely to.” The addition of a new concluding section of ekphrastic poems on the theme of “memento mori” confirms Brownson’s skills and expands her poetic vision.

Praise for Missy Brownson & Hush Candy

Good poems are rarely made by good girls. That’s not talk for polite company, but go ahead, try to deny it, especially when you witness Missy Brownson tear out of the gate with these first poems, each one hell-bent, either sticky with the spittle and grit of childhood or else hot to the touch, spoken by a woman full-grown who—seeing her world undone—stands tall and says, I’m done. Here you have a poet who takes sharp scissors to etiquette manuals and advice columns for ladies; here you have a new kind of Kentucky rising, a voice that instead of hollering blows a kiss, but the kind of kiss with a hiss, a sound that might just be a mouth red and crackling with Pop Rocks—literally, with Hush Candy—or as her poem says, “a secret to keep behind the teeth.” Exquisitely distilled, each of Brownson’s poems is a strong shot, something to down quickly to feel that delightful, dizzying rush.

—Nickole Brown, author of Sister & Fanny Says

Hush Candy is a marvelous collection, full of fun, sass, and splendid rebellion. I certainly recognize the times past when, in Missy Brownson’s moving words, I’ve been called to “slip into the tight skin of the person you give the world,” and thus I’m made all the merrier when these poems prod me to flee the bonds of propriety.

—Kathleen Driskell, author of Blue Etiquette

Hush Candy brings us a gasping fish, a sexy encounter with an avocado, Pop Rocks, “a tongue crackling,” fingers “sticky with rosin,” legs in a “lingering vibrato,” and a speaker who longs for “gold stars to fill/the blue-lined horizon” as she learns “to bend at the waist/without breaking.” But what is most enchanting is, as Eliot wrote, the experience of reading “with your ear.” We are greeted with sounds like the “silent ma ma ma,” the “thrum of…grilled grips,” “hoodlum heroes on ten-speed steeds,” and “meat neat and tamed on tines.” This is a heartbreaking collection of a Southern woman trying to find her way while navigating the expectations of a “well behaved” woman. The book succeeds in being, also, hopeful. We are left with a strong voice finding its way within an elegant lyricism. This is a gorgeous first collection for Missy Brownson—one I will recommend often.

—Kelly Moffett, author of bird blind & A Thousand Wings

The most original and, to me, satisfying move Missy Brownson makes in Hush Candy is the interplay between excerpted instructions (used as epigraph) from a 19th-century etiquette book and the contemporary turn the poem takes based on this fusty advice. There are some strong and memorable poems you’ll want to return to often in this wonderful debut.

—Jeff Worley, author of A Little Luck & The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue

About the Author

Missy Brownson resides in Georgetown, Kentucky, and works as the associate director of communications and outreach at a Frankfort-based educational organization. Her chapbook, Hush Candy, was published by Broadstone Books in 2018. In 2021, Missy’s poetry appeared alongside the visual art of Melissa T. Hall in two exhibits at the Lexington Art League, Memento Mori and Pandemia; full-color catalogs featuring these poems and images were published by Broadstone Books. Missy is a graduate of Earlham College and former participant in the MFA program at Murray State University. Her work has appeared in The Lumberyard Magazine, The Louisville Review, Open 24 Hours, Seppuku, and The Heartland Review, where her work was awarded “finalist” and “honorable mention” designations for the Joy Bale Boone Poetry Prize. Her work has also been distributed via the email poetry service of tweetspeakpoetry.com, Every Day Poems. Missy lives with her good husband and some bad cats. www.missybrownson.com