Acclaimed poet Tony Hoagland, author of Donkey Gospel and What Narcissism Means to Me, selected On the Loose by Judith Askew from a field of collections under consideration for publication by the new Bass River Press. In notes that accompanied his decision, Hoagland wrote:
"On the Loose is a collection of poems full of distinctive wit and nine kinds of liveliness-- intellectual, emotional, sexual, plaintive, and otherwise. The poet consistently finds quick and original speech for the particularities of our human condition, and she is full of witty self-perspective as well. On the Loose covers all the rites of passage, including loss and sorrow, but a tone of genuine amusement and the resourceful idiom to make it believable are its reliable poetic allies. Full of pleasure and sensibility, this is a book that will make its readers happy."