GERTRUDE PRESS STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH BLACK LIVES MATTER, AND COMMITS TO CONTINUE TO FEATURE THE STORIES, ART AND VOICES OF THE BLACK QUEER AND TRANS PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ON THE FRONT LINES OF REVOLUTION.
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The Lipstick Lounge

Luiza Flynn-Goodlett
​One summer, there's an oxygen bar
upstairs, another, skinheads behind
the dumpster. Always, pool tables,
dartboard felt giving way. Karaoke's
 
Friday, mulleted owner sidling out
from behind the bar, mic in hand.
Light up anywhere; that law hasn't
reached us. But, cabs don't stop, so
 
you'll want to hitch in a stranger's
truck, bum endless smokes. Maybe
you were born here too, beneath
a sticky banquette, took first steps
 
to a quavering rendition of Galileo,
and are still tethered—heart, that
stall with a bum lock, opens at
a nudge, pays for the next round.

READ RANDOMLY

Picture

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​Luiza Flynn-Goodlett is the author of four chapbooks, including Twice Shy forthcoming from Nomadic Press and Harm's Way forthcoming from dancing girl press. Her poetry can be found in Third Coast, The Journal, Granta, Quarterly West, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She serves as editor-in-chief of the queer literary journal Foglifter and lives in sunny Oakland, California.

© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    • Advisory Board + BOD
    • Submit
  • DONATE