Portland Public Library

Life of the party, poems, Olivia Gatwood

eng

no index present

poetry

Life of the party

1081373428

Olivia Gatwood

poems

" ... Olivia Gatwood is a thrilling new voice in contemporary feminist poetry. In Life of the Party, she weaves together her own coming of age with an investigation into our culture's romanticization of violence against women. In precise, searing language--at times blistering and riotous, at times soulful and exuberant--she explores the boundary between what is real and what is imagined in a life saturated with fear. How does one grow from a girl to a woman in a world wracked by violence? Where is the line between perpetrator and victim? What is the meaning of bravery? Visceral and haunting, this multifaceted collection illustrates that what happens to our bodies makes us who we are"--, Provided by publisher

Part I. Girl ; If a girl screams in the middle of the night ; Ghost story for masturbating at sleepovers ; No baptism ; First grade, 1998 ; The first shave ; All of the beautiful ones were catholic ; Addendum to no baptism ; Addendum II to no baptism ; Gamble ; My mother says I wasn't a bad girl, I was just bored ; With her ; I must have only loved her in the summer ; Back pedal ; The autocross ; Murder of a little beauty ; We all got burnt that summer ; The Sandias, 2008 ; Staying small ; When I say that we are all teen girls ; My man ; Mango season -- Part II. My grandmother asks why I don't trust men ; the boy says he loves Ted Bundy but doesn't laugh about it ; Here is what you need to know ; Mans/laughter ; The lover as a cult ; The summer of 2008 ; at Altura Park ; the lover as tapeworm ; Sound bites while we ponder death ; The lover as corn syrup ; The scholar ; Ode to my jealousy ; The lover as appetite ; Ode to my favorite murder ; I am almost certain I could dispose of myself & get away with it ; The lover as a dream ; My mother's addendum ; Body count: 13 ; Eubank & Candelaria, 2009 ; Aileen Wuornos teaches me about commitment -- Part III. She lit up every room she walked into ; When they find him ; Will I ever stop writing about the dead girl ; Elegy for allegedly ; Ode to the women on long island ; My girl ; Aileen Wuornos convinces me to put down my dog ; Ode to my bitch face ; Aileen Wuornos isn't my hero ; A story ending in breakfast ; Blowjob elegy ; What I know about healing ; Sonnet for the clove of garlic inside me ; Ode to pink ; Ode to my lover's left hand ; I am always trying to make my poems timeless ; Ode to the unpaid electricity bill ; Say it, I'm always in love ; 2041 ; Aileen Wuornos takes a lover home ; Another thing I know about healing ; All of the missing girls are hanging out without us ; In the future, I love the nighttime