My poetry and stories are often musings from my life - much like a 
diary or journal reflection. Some of my material comes from my on 
location film work as a makeup artist. I'm often put into unusual 
environments  and I paint the pictures of my experiences in poems and 
prose. My dad was in the Air Force and stationed in Seville, Spain 
where I was born. We then moved to the Los Angeles area when I was 
three. I started writing in 8th grade when my creative writing 
teacher introduced me to poetry. When I attended school at Loyola 
Marymount I learned of Beyond Baroque. In our college days, during 
readings, my friends and I would sneak in through the window and get 
free cheese and wine (and listen to poetry!). I was attracted to the 
idea of combining poetry with music and influenced by Jim Morrison 
who had ghosts in Venice beach and then Exene & John Doe from X who I 
heard had met at Beyond Baroque. Patti Smith also carried a torch for 
me. So I followed their footsteps into music combing my poetry with 
music. I was in an all girl punk band - Raszebrae, the ecletic poetry 
and folk rock -The Ringling Sisters and melodic soaring rock of Holy 
Water that I do with my husband Don Rutherford. New Alliance Records 
and Harvey Kubernick put out my spoken-word CD "Nocturnal" and I 
produced a poetry compilation "Cause" for Caroline Records.These days 
I do beauty and special effects makeup along with my love of song-
writing, poetry and prose. You can can find my column "The Beauty 
Bulletin" at www.alternativeworldfanzine. I am currently working on 
my first novel and releasing a book of poetry.  deborahpat@earthlink.net

Lexington Tornadoes

July 14, 2004 

There was a great thunderstorm last night in Lexington, Kentucky. I’m here on location with the film “Elizabethtown.” We wrapped and headed back to the Marriot Resort at 9:30pm. The sky was cloudy and lightening lit up the sky. I turned on the news – warnings – severe thunderstorms, tornado warning. I called downstairs and asked the operator “What if the power goes out?”

Operator: “We have a generator that will go on. If you’re afraid come down into the basement. Take the elevator.”

Me: “Wouldn’t it be better to take the stairs?”

Operator: “If you like.”

I hang up. Hmm. Tornado warning. I call back.

Me:  “What if there’s a tornado?”

Operator: “Take the elevator down to the basement.”

Me: “Shouldn’t I take the stairs?”

Operator: “You could.”

Me: “What if I go to sleep and then there’s a tornado?”

Operator: “Well I imagine there’ll be an alarm and you take the elevator to the basement or get into the bathtub and put pillows over you. Stay away from the window.” 

I hang up satisfied. Turn off the TV and slip into a deep beautiful sleep. The next morning after we’ve finished the makeups a loud siren/alarm goes off. I go outside and learn that this is a tornado alarm and it’s only a test. 

My job is very interesting. Not one of the memos mentioned anything about a tornado.

Patino 2004

The Long Way Home  

Driving across the USA
I’m in search of America
Instead I find myself on a lonely strip
Of Arizona highway 
 

“As he peered ahead into the great land stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.” 
 

            E.B. White Stuart Little – a mouse 

 

I peer ahead into the great land
The way seems long
The sky is bright and somehow
I feel I’m headed in the right direction 

 

7 weeks, 22 states, 10,000 miles, 61 burgers, 85 cokes,
400 gallons of gas 

 

Driven by restlessness
What’s out there?
What am I missing? 

 

Get off the main roads and onto the blue highways
Encounter the small real things in life
Handwritten signs are my guideposts 

 

A highway that shadows the old stagecoach route
Scenery looks much as it must have one hundred years ago 

 

Jack Kerouac “I had a book with me…but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.” 

 

Sinious banking through the desert scrub and pinon juniper
On the horizon ahead
The two-lane road, black and smooth as oil
The desert seemed to drop off the horizon
As if I’m on a plateau at the top of the world 

I descend to the swooping asphault as darkness settled in
I drive slowly; I’m in no hurry
I see the oncoming lights that disclose the dim clearings
A dreamy sweetness
Majesty
I felt safe and happy as I did when I was young and dropping off to sleep in the back seat while my parents drove back from a party  

I begin to wonder whether all this driving wasn’t just a roundabout approach to taking the long way home 

 

Yesterday you said goodbye
Left all your belongings behind
Heard about a faraway place
Seems like a nice escape
You’re a little scared
‘Cause you’re on a journey through the desert
On the highway, to

Wondering about your life
Remembering all the good times
Like the trees that bend with grace
Mystery is in the peace
Of the highway,

Slight breeze not moving anything
The lands dips
You stretch out and fly above 

 

Feel the warmth of

There’s something you discover
When your mind is set on fire
Blazing through the night
Heading home on the highway
Superstition Highway

 



C 2008 Deborah Patino

There Is A House  


There is a house with a family
in it and perhaps a ghost
or 2 or 4 

 

It’s a 3-storey turn of the century
yet it still has its charm 

 

Rundown
its chandeliers and green and brown patterned
tiles that outline the wooden mantel
of the fireplace 

 

The paint is dripping off and
cobwebs stream the
room like party favors 

 

There is a cat
-her name is
Elvira
midnight black 

 

They still have their original outhouse
and carriage
There is a room full of graffiti
and bad words  

I was going to go upstairs to see for myself
but I didn’t get around to it

Deborah in Pittsburgh 2008
d. patino