Elane Gutterman

---

Page 1 | 2

For a Daughter with a Broken Heart

Hibernate your heart until it heals
Plant daffodil bulbs in the cold soil

Mash your frustration and anger
until the soft pulp is easier to digest

Fabricate what went wrong, make a collage,
use glue and whatever it takes

Let your tears stream away
Toss your biological clock into the ocean

Salsa and samba when you can't shake the blues
Sing with Shakira when you feel like wailing

Watch the clouds scatter as you perform acts of kindness
Soak up the morning dew

Find hues of hope
When you're ready, wear your red dress

Your sleeveless, backless, body clinging red dress

Elane Gutterman is a health researcher whose poems often address the collisions and heroics of contemporary life (large and small). Her poems have been published in The Ekphrastic Review, The Fib Review, The Kelsey Review, The New Verse News, and Paterson Literary Review. In 2019, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first book of poetry, Tides of Expectation, was recently published. She is a board member of West Windsor Arts, where she is chair of the literary arts committee.