Lorine Niedecker writes about the contemporaneous existence of past, present and future in organisms like minerals and rocks. These breathing capsules catch us in crystalline as if we were vapor. However, we are not vapor. We catch them too. In declivities and emotional residue. In grief & indelible skull designs. An exchange over time in pockets and leaves. An exchange that fosters reciprocity. Symbiosis of exchanges.

gutter rainbows is about transformation through trauma. It's about growing up in Brooklyn & forming alliances with sidewalks. About being a girl on the verge of something shattering. About the fur. Many of the poems in this collection are based on a type of mineral. Melissa Eleftherion works with the language of minerals and rocks to tell a story of the relationship between women & geological trauma, along with the sediment of betrayal that lingers in our foundation. This book is about trusting yourself enough to claw your way out.