Tales From Drunk Town and Other Brutal Truths

image by Amy Alexander

Dominica Nicholls’ work comes together in a synergy of raw emotion, crude confession and brutal honesty. Laden with passion, excitement, remorse, longing, resentment and desire, to say she shows great use of the English language only skims the surface.

Along with using poetry as a form of self-expression, Dominica also uses writing to explore her own emotions, often revealing great personal truths to close friends and family during public readings. Her work echoes a complicated relationship with people, alcohol, and words unsaid as she reveals herself with a snappy delivery and quick witted humour, as illustrated in Tales From Drunk Town.

Despite subjective origins, there are certain all-encompassing qualities to her poems. Profound use of descriptive language and tone work together to create vivid imagery and, even if an audience member can’t personally relate to the subject matter, they will be able to relate to the emotion she portrays. Her honesty is breathtaking and you find yourself thinking “Hey, I’ve had days like that!”

Though Dominica has had pieces published in the 2010 UTS Writers Anthology and Meanjin (Vol 64), you cannot fully appreciate her work until you have seen it performed. Watching her read live in the studio for Something Else was a surreal experience and it is no surprise to hear she has performed in multiple Caravan Slam finals. Her thick, resonating voice was utterly captivating as it reverberated through the studio, settling into the walls, into the floor, and into each soul sitting in the room. Monumental truths came pouring out as she revealed more and more about herself through poetic imagery, vocal inflection and explicit emotion.

* If you’d like to get a hold of Dominica’s work head to www.bloodygretagarbo.com

* Mentioned in the show was the John Marsden Prize for Young Australian Writers, for more information head to https://expressmedia.org.au/express_media/prizes-grants-money-for-writers/the-john-marsden-prize-for-young-australian-writers/

*Also mentioned in the show was ‘safARI’ Sydney’s Unofficial Biennale, for more information head to safari.org.au

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