Iona has just started her first teaching job when her mum dies from cancer. Obviously, it is unexpected, and it changes everything. As a writer, performer, poet, and clown, Iona finds it oddly comforting to imagine her apparently quiet grief as an extravagant circus act.  
 
Breaking Down Loudly is one version of these imaginings, a page-performance about the changing patterns of grief, family, and friendship. The poems shift between tender scenes that show all the different ways we try to connect with each other when everything is falling apart.
 
Breaking Down Loudly is Iona’s debut full poetry collection.
 
‘Iona May has such an exciting poetic voice – made district by her mix of tenderness and disarming wit. This collection is unflinchingly honest, sumptuously extravagant, and quietly devastating all at once.’ – Ellen Renton