New Poem “Gutter Girls” by Jennifer Patino

Gutter Girls

Gutter girls never forget
to look up on meteor shower
nights. Hope equals stardust,
glitter crust in the early mornings,
face plastered to a leather sofa
in a strange time zone. Jet lag
for weeks after a peach schnapps
bender. Blinking alarm clock
as a message.

Gutter girls practice eulogies
in the fogged up mirrors
of hotel bathrooms three miles
off rez. Feel like home in
the woodlands, bless the absence
of city sounds. Apply chapstick
heavily, multiple times daily,
to lick their lips constantly
because they are addicted
to the taste. They lug around
a purse big enough to fit
an entire life in. Their
mothers and grandmothers' lives
too. Never learned how to let go
so they hold on to everything.

Gutter girls map boundaries
using the birch line as a blueprint.
Mourn the cost of paper but know
the best is always written
in the dirt road after a rainstorm.
Fall in love too easily, carve names
of dream lovers into a park bench.
Cross out mistakes. Cross out
their mistaken identities. Correct
the world with a wide eyed gasp
and a stubbed nail jab to a rib bone.

Gutter girls use the address
of their birthplace as 'cred'. Leave
a lot of voicemails to ensure confirmation,
validation of existence. Tell you everything
to your face because they hate
how backs look when people walk away.
Love too much, cry too much,
sleep too much. Pick berries
in summertime. Have purple stained
fingertips they coordinate
with their skirts.

Gutter girls hold hands like
they're holding the dying. Can see
an aura the moment after making
eye contact. Are used to rough
surfaces. Talk the most to ghosts.
Sigh prayerfully. Disappear eventually,
like scars. Gutter girls fade
like the photographs of their smiles
that they never let anyone see.



Bio: Jennifer Patino is an Ojibwe poet from Detroit, Michigan currently residing in Las Vegas, Nevada. She lives for books and film. She has had work featured in Door is A Jar, Punk Noir Magazine, The Chamber Magazine, Free Verse Revolution Lit, and elsewhere. She blogs at www.thistlethoughts.com. 


Two Poems from Jennifer Patino for our online “Trauma Letters Anthology”


Fevers of the Mind Quick-9 Interview with Jennifer Patino


Audrey Hepburn Challenge: Some Things A Lady Just Wears Well by Jennifer Patino