“The fine poems in Lois Rosen’s Nice and Loud blossom with emotional honesty and color. The world they make is a very particular one, but it is nevertheless strikingly inclusive: everyone is invited in, as though everyone were somehow Elijah, a splendid and unusual gift to us all. The marvelously controlled tone of the book, the clarity of its detail, the strong but intimate voice in poem after poem—familiar even if you've never heard it before—make it an experience for which all who love poetry will be thankful.”
—Christopher Howell
“Nice and Loud—simply put—is neither. These memorable poems sting us with their candor, their unflinching wit. They achieve power not through simple volume, but with nuance, with subtle music, with arresting imagery, with moving compassion. I praise Lois Rosen for giving us poems that emerge from the haunts of her youth—the tiny fourth floor walk-up, a Yonkers synagogue, the Bowery, a 42nd Street penny arcade. I’m grateful for her courageous voice. We’re fortunate that she’s both eloquent and outspoken, “a woman who will not/ keep her mouth shut."”
—Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita
“Lois Rosen’s autobiographical poems are tender, loving and wise. They capture a post-WWII life in New York that is cramped, cautious and laced with corn beef, mandelbrot and Yiddish, where a young girl “eats“ the Holocaust and is told, You’ll get hurt. You’ll get dirty. Don’t let men lure you into cars. The “I“ of these poems embarks on a larger life. The exquisite poem “Epithalamion (27 Years Later)" is joyful. “In his arms, I inhale/ fir, cherry and oak, Oregon, Oy, such a fragrance.“ Rosen knows the travails of those who need to leave home, live on little, and that women’s voices must be heard.”
—Willa Schneberg
