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First Blood
In First Blood, Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize winner, Natalie D-Napoleon, brings us a collection of poems that challenge our preconceptions of girlhood. Girls are sung about the world over, yet the selfhood of girls remains unknown: “her body was not hers, a stitch / of animal, a pinch of dirt, a girl / is made of words plus liquid minus time.” The daughter of Croatian-immigrant farmers, D-Napoleon stitches together this debut collection of poems-as-memoir into a web of poems both created and found.
Between carrots and dust, short skirts and books, the poet unlearns herself and the stories of girls, forgotten and unseen, exploring the dreams countless generations have sown into the land - the zemlja - and how this legacy impacts upon the mythic creation and destruction of girlhood.
Reviews of First Blood say:
"First Blood illuminates, enthrals and moves. It deserves to be savoured."
- Dominique Hecq, Rochford Street Review
"Natalie D-Napoleon’s words go straight for the heart of the reader."
- Writing WA
"This is highly cerebral poetry that nevertheless hits you in the guts."
- Alison Clifton, StylusLit
“This poet is in possession of a distinctive voice and they have really struck on a subject matter that engages both them and the reader.”
- Lucy Dougan, Poet
"'First Blood: A Sestina' is an unsettling poem...a critique of self and society in terms of the female body, a strong undoing of form working hand-in-hand with the application of that form, the sestina.”
- John Kinsella, Poet
Between carrots and dust, short skirts and books, the poet unlearns herself and the stories of girls, forgotten and unseen, exploring the dreams countless generations have sown into the land - the zemlja - and how this legacy impacts upon the mythic creation and destruction of girlhood.
Reviews of First Blood say:
"First Blood illuminates, enthrals and moves. It deserves to be savoured."
- Dominique Hecq, Rochford Street Review
"Natalie D-Napoleon’s words go straight for the heart of the reader."
- Writing WA
"This is highly cerebral poetry that nevertheless hits you in the guts."
- Alison Clifton, StylusLit
“This poet is in possession of a distinctive voice and they have really struck on a subject matter that engages both them and the reader.”
- Lucy Dougan, Poet
"'First Blood: A Sestina' is an unsettling poem...a critique of self and society in terms of the female body, a strong undoing of form working hand-in-hand with the application of that form, the sestina.”
- John Kinsella, Poet
- GenresPoetry
76 pages, Paperback
Published August 27, 2019
About the author
Natalie Damjanovich-Napoleon (D-Napoleon)
4 books10 followersNatalie Damjanovich-Napoleon (D-Napoleon) is an award-winning Australian-American poet, teacher and non-fiction writer.
She was raised on a farm by her Croatian-immigrant parents. Natalie spent the last decade in the United States where she gave birth to her son and then worked as a Coordinator at a City College Writing Centre. Her poetry and creative non-fiction has appeared in Meanjin, Cordite, The Found Poetry Review, Westerly, Australian Poetry Journal and Writer’s Digest (US). Natalie’s work has been widely anthologised in both the United States and Australia and she has been shortlisted for The Peter Porter Prize, The Tom Collins’ Poetry Prize, and the Penelope Niven Prize for Nonfiction, among others.
Her poem ‘First Blood: A Sestina’ won the prestigious Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize. Subsequently, her debut poetry book First Blood (Ginninderra Press) was released. In 2019, she won the KSP Poetry Prize for ‘If There Is a Butterfly That Drinks Tears’ which was also published in The Australian (Review). Currently, Natalie is teaching writing and ESL while completing a PhD on erasure poetry and historic amnesia. If There Is a Butterfly That Drinks Tears is her second poetry collection.
She lives in Walyalup/Fremantle with her husband, son and rescue cat, Sylvia.
She was raised on a farm by her Croatian-immigrant parents. Natalie spent the last decade in the United States where she gave birth to her son and then worked as a Coordinator at a City College Writing Centre. Her poetry and creative non-fiction has appeared in Meanjin, Cordite, The Found Poetry Review, Westerly, Australian Poetry Journal and Writer’s Digest (US). Natalie’s work has been widely anthologised in both the United States and Australia and she has been shortlisted for The Peter Porter Prize, The Tom Collins’ Poetry Prize, and the Penelope Niven Prize for Nonfiction, among others.
Her poem ‘First Blood: A Sestina’ won the prestigious Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize. Subsequently, her debut poetry book First Blood (Ginninderra Press) was released. In 2019, she won the KSP Poetry Prize for ‘If There Is a Butterfly That Drinks Tears’ which was also published in The Australian (Review). Currently, Natalie is teaching writing and ESL while completing a PhD on erasure poetry and historic amnesia. If There Is a Butterfly That Drinks Tears is her second poetry collection.
She lives in Walyalup/Fremantle with her husband, son and rescue cat, Sylvia.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 4, 2020
One of the highest praises you can heap upon a songwriter is to laud them as a poet. The list of musicians that have thus been crowned is far too long to print. But among this overzealous bestowment of the accolade are some genuine recipients. Leonard Cohen instantly comes to mind. And so does Patti Smith and Tom Waits. And you can throw Natalie D-Napoleon into that group too. This is the debut book of poetry from the Western Australian singer-songwriter who in 2018 was a worthy recipient of the prestigious Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize with her masterfully composed poem "First Blood: A Sestina." The book, which carries the title of the award-winning poem, traces the girlhood journey of a daughter from immigrant parents in rural Western Australia and in so doing offers a captivating, poignant, and enchanting insight into a side of Australian culture often forsaken in favor of more familiar and over told social narratives.
October 11, 2022
Very excited to read more from this author.
Personal, yet relatable material and earthy rich language. It left me feeling surer in my connection to place, and body.
Personal, yet relatable material and earthy rich language. It left me feeling surer in my connection to place, and body.
September 12, 2025
If you like poetry that carries risk, that isn’t afraid of discomfort, and that connects the intimate (body, puberty, self) with the broader (culture, history, language), this is a collection you’ll find resonant.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews