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... -Julian Talamantez Brolaski is the author of
Advice for Lovers (City Lights Publishers, 2012).
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