Triptych Caliform

by Natasha Dennerstein

Natasha Dennerstein’s poetry, which she names ekphrasis (literally ‘to speak out,’) is to decoct the form of cinematic, kink, and Californian archetypes-the blonde noir vixen, the golden shower scene, the more-spiritual-than-thou hippie-into these seemly and seedy forms, swift as a snort of amphetamine.
These poems are shapely in that they literally concern the shape of things, (the Mistress’ breasts, ‘burnished, onyx cantaloupes’), while they fashion themselves as rhyme, plump with undulating accent. Trebled in these modes, ‘just for the thrill of it, baby,’ she rides us, or drives us, all along the length of California.

87 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

About the author

Natasha Dennerstein was born in Melbourne, Australia, to a family originating in Belarus.  She worked as a psychiatric nurse for many years, which gave her an interesting perspective on the human condition. She has an MFA from San Francisco State University. Natasha has had poetry published in many journals including Landfall, Snorkel, Shenandoah, Bloom, Transfer, Red Light Lit, Spoon River Poetry Review and Foglifter. Her collections Anatomize (2015) Triptych Caliform (2016)and About a Girl (2017) were published by Norfolk Press in San Francisco. Her recent chapbook Seahorse (2017) was published by Nomadic Press in Oakland.

Reviews

[Miah Jeffra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of Dennerstein's collections. It wraps place and sexuality and media into a conflated source of wisdom: the perfect aubade to California. This is a California after dusk, a California between things, and Dennerstein's poetics here are raw, sharp-edged, and beautiful in that bloodletting kind of way. I feel the collection is the perfect profile of California as character, as situation, as condition. Goddess, I love this book. I recommend it for a California Poetics course.

[Wayne Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instead of splitting California into two, Natasha Dennerstein carves it into three parts

In her second amazing collection of poetry, Australian-born Natasha Dennerstein takes a look at the Golden State from three perspectives: The Golden Age of Hollywood; Kinky Sex Scenes; and Life in the Land of LA, LA. Reading (or hearing her read, which is much better) the poems that narrate some of her favorite old films causes your mind to replay the movies in your head. The second section is an "Enter At Your Own Risk" look at variations on human sexuality, practices not practiced by the vanilla majority. Capping off this strong volume is an outsider's view of how the wealthy, famous, and those who wanna-be, see the difference between themselves and the rest of us. As a life-long Californian, I enjoyed every aspect and nuanced syllable. Dennerstein once again display her mastery of our Mother Tongue.

[Larry Lare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three for the road please, that is a road movie.

Larry Nelson-SF