Nikki Patin has been writing for over two decades. She has taught workshops on performance poetry, body image, sexual assault prevention, and LGBT issues. Patin has performed, taught, and spoken at elementary schools, high schools, colleges, and universities such as the University of Chicago, Adler School of Psychology, Northwestern University, Nancy B. Jefferson High School (located within the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center), University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison and many others. Patin was featured on the fourth season of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, was voted one of 30 under 30 most influential LGBTQ people in Chicago by Windy City Times, and took the gold medal in the 2006 Gay Games International LGBT poetry slam. Patin was voted “Best Standout Performer” in the Dunedin Fringe Festival while headlining a tour of her one-woman show, “The Phat Grrrl Revolution,” throughout New Zealand and Australia. She has released several chapbooks, a full-length collection of writing and design, two EPs, and a full-length album entitled “Bedroom Empire.” She is the creator of Surviving the Mic, an organization dedicated to creating a safe space for the creation and telling of stories of survivors of all kinds of trauma, with a special focus on Black and female-identified survivors of sexual and domestic violence who also identify as performing writers. Nikki Patin is an MFA candidate in Creative Non-Fiction at Stonecoast MFA Program at the University of Southern Maine. Visit nikkipatin.com and phatgrrrlrevolution.com.
Sestina for the Stars
by Nikki Patin
Born perfect
Brutally birthed ethereal
How else shall we describe the genesis of a star?
Eyes searing jewels
Reflecting every angle of the divine
I dare you to bottle my light
Heavy with every kind of light
Rippling, undulating across my bulging skin perfect
My goddess body is not only divine
But flesh dripping down my bones ethereal
As if my belly were stuffed with rare jewels
Embodying refraction, I mirror convex, no shade, all star
Can’t keep your eyes off the bounce of this star
Skittering across the cosmos, a flashlight
illuminating hidden jewels
studding the gorgeous landscape perfect
smile rich and full, buttery and ethereal
like that last, creamy mouthful of ice cream, divine
the last little bite of heaven one can’t get enough of, divine
I dare you to dissect a star
crack open trillions of years of ethereal
no, not too many can’t stand the intensity of this light
no, not many at all can keep company with this kind of perfect
flaws abound in the promise of jewels
I never cared for jewels
Always borrowing their glamour from the divine
While pretending to be perfect
I know a rare gem still pales next to a true star
Which can both shine and glare, depending on the angle of the light
So, gorge yourself on my ethereal
Behold my generosity in gifting you the vision of my ethereal
Do use your tongue to savor my jewels
Bask in my shameless light
I am a channel of the divine
Sauntering across the sky, I’m a star
Intentionally throwing off well-worn orbits while naming myself perfect
My light ethereal
Perfect big belly full of jewels
Divine refusing to be called anything except STAR
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Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. TORCH has featured work by Toi Derricotte, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats.