Poetry. California Interest. In ALKALI SINK, Stella Beratlis's debut poetry collection, themes of family, loss, and the natural world weave together to create a universe of dichotomies at once dangerous and intimate, walking the line between the catastrophic and the sublime. Beratlis's poems, rooted in her family's Greek culture and the culture of California's Central Valley, deftly maneuver between worlds as familiar and exotic as the mustard greens her immigrant mother gathers along an interstate highway. These poems transform ordinary acts—bird-watching, cooking, cleaning a sofa, taking a road trip—into extraordinary ones. With its startling imagery and touches of wry humor, ALKALI SINK brings us an exciting and original new poetic voice.