Punk Planet says Daphne Gottlieb's work speaks to the present historical moment in a beautifully eloquent, dramatic, and everyday kind of way. Roger Corman calls her poems courageous and startling. Lynn Breedlove reports that Daphne's machete take on life leaves no one standing except us, for it's us she aims to elevate, the fucked over and the fucked up, and for that we thank her.

Final Girl
an excerpt from the new book
by Daphne Gottlieb

bikini killer

at 4, it's already clear
that mimi's going to grow
up to be one of those ladies
her momma calls a "fame fer tall"
one of those cigarette-swilling heartbreakers
who strides in
and gets things going
like a party
or a murder

mimi's got those 4-year-old
high heels on, those
coffee-can romper stompers
strapped to her feet
with the ribbon laces
that match her bathing suit

the ants scramble out
of the guillotine clank of her walk
as she sh-clanks her way
up and down the sidewalk
slicing worms in half with
a single-minded step
the art of the crush

makes her the terror of the insect world
but the she's the darling of every
dog on the block
want her like nothing
can't take their eyes off her
drool for her
whine to the shine of her step
nose to her like fresh bones
no one's seen anything like it
the dogs

won't leave her side
jostle each other for her
attention
and skulk home when she goes
in to dinner

she's born to break
hearts and like any good
minx, she's got her secrets

cherry kool-aid
makes her lips red

"please" gets her
what she wants

and she never gives up
the leftover meatloaf
she hid
in her bikini bottoms.

Know someone who would be interested in this topic? Send the page to a friend.

Want more? Check out the Daphne Gottlieb web site or see the author in person:

New York City
10/6 - 7PM A Little Bit Louder@
13 Bar/Lounge
35 East 13th Street 2nd Floor
10/7 -8PM Lucky Cat
245 Grand Street
10/8 - 7PM Blue Stockings
172 Allen Street
10/9 - 8:15PM Urbana Poetry Slam@
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery

Boston
10/12 -8PM K'vetch @ Oni Gallery
684 Washington Street
10/13 - 7PM Wordsworth
30 Brattle Street, Cambridge

Boston
10/15-8PM The Cantab Lounge
738 Massachusetts Avenue

Philadelphia
10/16- 7PM Robin's Bookstore
108 South 13th Street

Baltimore
10/17- 7PM Lambda Rising
241 W. Chase Street

Washington DC
10/19 - 8PM Flemming Community Center
1422 9th St, NW

Richmond, VA
10/20 - 7:30PM Chop Suey Books
1317 W. Cary Street

Chapel Hill, NC
10/21- 7PM Internationalist Books
402 West Franklin Street

Asheville, NC
10/22 - 7PM Malaprops Bookstore
55 Haywood Street

Atlanta, GA
10/23- 8:30 Tower II
735 Ralph McGill Blvd NE

New Orleans
10/24 - 7PM Dragon's Den
435 Esplanade
10/25-1PM New Orleans Book Fair @
Contemporary Arts Fair
900 Camp Street

Austin, TX
10/26- 8PM Austin Slam @ Ego's
510 S. Congress
10/27- 7PM The Escapist
2209 D.S. 1st Street

San Antonio, TX
10/28 -10:30 PM Sam's Burger Joint
330 E. Grayson

Chicago
10/29-7PM Barbara's Bookstore
1350 N. Wells

Ann Arbor
10/30-8PM University of Michigan

Madison, WI
11/1- Canterbury Booksellers
315 W. Gorham Street

San Diego w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/2-7PM Dizzy's
344 Seventh Avenue, btwn J & K

Long Beach, CA w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/3-7PM 2000+ Bookstore
309 Pine Avenue

Los Angeles w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/4 -7PM 33 1/3 Bookstore
1200 N. Alvarado Street

Orange County w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/5- 8PM The Ugly Mug
261 N. Glassell Street

San Francisco w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/8 - 7PM The Make-Out Room
3225 22nd Street
11/9-8PM Second Sundays@
314 11th Street @ Folsom

Eugene w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/11-8:30PM Foolscap Books
780 Blair Boulevard

Portland w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/12-7:30PM Portland PoetrySlam
SE 21st & Division
11/13-7:30PM Powell's
3723 SE Hawthorne Boulevard

Olympia w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/14 -7PM Orca Books
509 4th Avenue East

Seattle w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/15 Elliot Bay Books
101 S. Main Street

Vancouver w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/17- 10PM Café Deux Soleils
2096 Commercial Drive

Seattle w/ Hal Sirowitz
11/19 - 9PM Seattle Poetry Slam
The Capitol Hill Arts Center
1621 12th Avenue