Here’s a commentator, a voice that’s fresh, a mind in enquiry mode. This poet takes laboratory experience and body parts and instals them as functions of thinking. And applies rapid-zoom facilities — from ‘things not being where I want them to be’ to the astronomer sending his ashes to Mars, from creating humanity to riotous stories of mother — and cockroaches! Best of all, many poems here continue obstinately in the mind. For instance, ‘the woman burning’ and the tantalising ‘the poets steal each other’s dreams’ — a probe into the mysterious sharing of creativity.

Something of the breadth of Frankenstein’s bathtub can be guessed at in the collection’s paradoxical title — the weird wonderfulness of science and the sensuality of a steaming bath are just some of its contradictory pleasures. Like all the best poetry, these poems show us new ways of seeing ourselves and the world — with a clearsightedness that is as tender as it is witty and insightful.

When was the last time art & science was gleefully observed in symbiosis? Probably the only comparable writing today is with seriously ill people write of lives grafted to medical technology. Frankenstein's bathtub thrives with an ambience of inquiry & fascination. A compelling read.

Wonderful writing. 'a story I like about my mother' saw me laughing out loud. There's a well of angry stories here, but buried by a determination to move on. Dearborn does great last lines. It's hard to pick the best quotes without spoiling the read.

That apt title resonates through the book everywhere. That mix of the structural/dissection/scientific and the immensely human.

We live in a time where all voices & themes have been done endlessly. The integration of the language of science is often quite startling here.

We can be bleak bastards, us poets. But this book, while lifting the sheets to see the gore below, refuses to be gloomy. Truly life affirming.

Tricia Dearborn was born in Glen Innes, New South Wales, in 1963. Her childhood career choices were astronaut and writer. She has found that writing provides lots of opportunities for exploration without the fitness requirements of space travel.

She has degrees in Biochemistry and Arts, and earns her living as a senior editor in an educational publishing house. In 1995, Tricia was a founding member of the group outWriters, which flourished for five years. In 1998, she was selected to take part in the inaugural Varuna Residential Mentorship for Poetry, with Deb Westbury as mentor.

Her poems have been published in literary journals in Australia and the US. She currently lives in Ashfield, in Sydney’s inner west.  Frankenstein’s bathtub is her first collection of poetry.