Natalie Louise Tombasco
Winner of the 2023 Michael Waters Poetry Prize
Set in a kingdom populated with Shitshow Barbie, the Queens of Mean and Sourpuss, and a Lolita Army, Milk for Gall is a postmodern feminist epic that challenges patriarchal contradictions. The collection creates a protean landscape that opens with a primordial sigh and descends realm after realm, self after self, questioning passed-down constructions of womanhood while cultivating a nomenclature all its own: nimble, lush, rhythmic verse that liberates itself from the male gaze.
鈥淭hese poems dazzle, subvert, delight, and bite; their deeply intelligent performances make undeniable the聽 absurdity and weight of prescribed (and preyed-upon) femininities. Lush and percussive, Natalie Louise聽 Tombasco鈥檚 Milk for Gall made me fall in love with the textures and chimes of words all over again. Here is聽 a book that feels both hyper-contemporary and for the ages. An absolutely glorious debut.鈥�
鈥揋abrielle Bates
鈥淭his book is sexy, dangerous, electric. In Milk for Gall, Natalie Louise Tombasco flirts with us, smirking at the male gaze and teasing 鈥榯he linguistic G-spot鈥� through an urgent and playful voice that feels both聽 singular and multifold. This is a poet who knows how to dig into our misogynistic cultural detritus and work聽 it into a subversive bed of 鈥榖ubblegum & Ouija,鈥� cultivating sharp, musical outbursts in poems that demand聽 to be heard. Tombasco鈥檚 speakers are girls gone feral who grow up and grow smart, reveling in the聽 pleasures of image and language. Here you will meet a lineage of Lolitas, queens, Berthas, and mermaids聽 mingling with the ghosts of Plath, Bishop, O鈥橦ara, and Ginsberg. They will greet you with a dazzling show.鈥�
鈥揜ochelle Hurt
鈥淣atalie Louise Tombasco鈥檚 wonderful-strange collection of poems, Milk for Gall, is all appetite. The Surreal, the Sublime, the Occult, the Erotic all merge here, miraculous and malevolent in their intent to upend the聽 obvious. This book recalls, deliciously, Judy Chicago鈥檚 classic exhibit The Dinner Party in that we are offered聽 a seat at the table of a myriad of female perspectives. Tombasco鈥檚 linguistic aplomb, sonic chops, and聽 devastating takes on postmodern feminism make this astonishing debut a turbocharged reading experience.鈥濃��
鈥揅ate Marvin