Nobody's Good Girl, by Katherine Orfinger

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Nobody’s Good Girl is powerful, personal, and at times political. At its core, this collection is about love. Love gone wrong, love turned violent, love abandoned, the arduous quest for self-love, and trying to love a God who doesn’t seem to reciprocate. These autobiographical poems are situated firmly in the intersection of the physical body and emotional experience of the body. The body as an ornament; the body as a crime scene; the body as a weapon; the body as a sanctuary. Images of a body unraveled and, at last, healing and whole.

Addressing everything from dating apps to the Middle East, this collection is one writer’s trek through personal and global strife. Nobody’s Good Girl is a complex celebration of survival that walks the line between softness and anger. It is a tribute to the art of not giving up and an exploration of the intricacies of reimagining one’s identity after trauma. Influenced by Judaism, mental health, and literature, Nobody’s Good Girl is meant to unnerve, unsettle, and ultimately serve as a gentle invitation to uncoil “your terrified heart and/re-form it into something/you can tolerate,” or maybe even love.

Katherine Orfinger is a writer, photographer, and MFA candidate at Rosemont College. She holds a BA in English with a minor in Creative Writing from Stetson University. Katherine draws inspiration from her Jewish faith and love of nature. Her work has appeared in The Write Launch, Beyond Queer Words, Touchstone, and others. In her spare time, she enjoys tinkering with analog cameras and spending quality time with her cat. She currently resides in Pennsylvania with her partner. Find her on Instagram @gardenofglitch