Dust Bowl Venus

Thanks to NetGalley and Sixteen Rivers Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The way I felt about individual poems varied greatly; I really loved some (more on that below), but others felt like they were trying too hard to sound clever, rather than describing things in a clear or evocative way—using big words, describing things in unusual ways that didn't add to the poems, in my opinion. But this collection overall really has a history; you can feel the strong connections to place and to the past. Despite this, the overwhelming feeling as a reader isn't one of nostalgia, but more a sort of appreciation and understanding, as well as hopefulness.

I loved the structure and rhythm of many of the poems; the third section of "What Grows Here," for instance, was beautiful in terms of its feel, look, and sound. The stanzas of so many poems—"Inventory of Household Items," "Galvanized Gutbucket," "Ode on a BIC Turntable"—were engaging and worked really well in this context.

Other poems like "Perfect Love Song," "Oramil's Dream," "I love you in autumn," and "Ode to North Bay Inn" felt to me like somewhat of a departure from the preceding poems, in a way I really liked. They really captivated me, and left me wanting more of that style in the rest of the collection.

The phrase "my love" was repeated in multiple poems, and I loved the feeling that gave to the collection overall.

The "Notes" section at the end was really illuminating on some of the specifics of the poems, and provided important context for them. I really appreciated all of this, but I almost wish the notes had been underneath individual poems—I don't think the author owes us any explanations, but if you're going to provide them, then I think they'd be more impactful just after they're used, rather than so far removed at the end that a reader might forget their role in the poems.

To end, I just want to share a couple of my favorite lines/sections:

from "All About Birds: An Elegy":
"/In the first place/
refers, my love,
to the peaches we ate on the balcony;
refers, my love,
to the months you first loved me,"

from "H2O":
"If my credit score were higher,
we'd be married, Modesto."

from "Root-Cause Failure Analysis":
"please consider all the ways a thing can go wrong,"

from "A Dream About Steinhart Aquarium":
"The mouth waters; the tide goes out."

With "Dust Bowl Venus," former Modesto, California poet laureate Stella Beratlis releases into the world her latest poetry collection. It's a collection that embraces, at times with great resignation, the bones of people and places and things. The Great Central Valley captured by Beratlis is a landscape of wonder where the we practically bathe in the tenderness of its dust.

It was the word "tenderness," my favorite word in life, that came forth time and again in "Dust Bowl Venus." It wasn't always on the written page but in the way Beratlis connects her experiences across the spectrum of life. Beratlis irrevocably intertwines both person and place and recognizes that our fragile relationship is dependent upon one another.

Indeed, Beratlis's poetry personifies the natural experience in wondrous ways. We give life to place and our place gives life to us.

We experience illness and death and tragedy and renewal just as is experienced in the world around us.

"Dust Bowl Venus" was such a compelling collection that I immediately began exploring Beratlis's other work including her 2015 collection "Alkali Sink." To be released in May 2021 by Sixteen Rivers Press, a Northern California publishing collective, "Dust Bowl Venus" is framed by the lyrics of Modesto-based country-bluegrass songwriter Hazel Houser and it is Beratlis's ability to capture Houser's unique rhythms that helps to turn "Dust Bowl Venus" into such a captivating and immersive experience.

I always shudder when I think about citing favorite poems, but there are always those that resonate more deeply. For me, "The Republic of Tenderness and Bread" made me weep while "How to Possibly Find Something or Someone by Praying" sent me deep into reflection. "Inventory of Household Items" brought a weird smile to my face and "All About Birds: An Elegy," seemed to come out of nowhere and yet everywhere.

"Regret Bench?" Sublime and so visual.

There are others. Truthfully, I loved this collection. I loved the framework of meaning provided toward collection's end. However, I also appreciated reading the collection independent of this framework and allowing the words to form meaning for me.

This is how we become. Indeed.

The poetry in here is absolutely phenomenal and really makes you want to disappear inside its page. As someone who loves poetry, it's so nice to come across new poets! Definitely worth checking out.

The poetry in “Dust Bowl Venus” is rousing, musical work. One is reminded of the howl of classic country singers, the midnight jangle on the radio, because Stella Beratlis’s words are impossible to parse without a thorough background in Americana. This is poetry about the working class, about lost dreams spread flat over the horizon. My favorite of the collection was “All About Birds: An Elegy”, in which Beratlis declares that the history of the world is a murder ballad. Some poems here are stronger than others, but the ones that capture you are lyrical and insightful, and somehow familiar, saying what you always suspected and never voiced.