Poets to Know - Olivia Gatwood

Olivia Gatwood is a slam poet and advocate for Title XI. Her poems navigate the landscapes of growing up, womanhood, and violence, in a way that is both understanding and hopeful, digging into the heart of relationships, especially those which exist in the nebulous places between friendships an love and the complexity of how we live in the world, with others, and with ourselves. 

Gatwood is probably best known for her slam poetry, and the incredible power with which she delivers her words. It's rare to find a poet who is equally potent on the page and in the room. Gatwood has a presence on stage, very much like that of her poems. But this isn't a celebration of the auteur, I only mean to say that Gatwood's voice and work are strong, tangible. Play one of these videos, and you'll see. 

Whether you read the poems as a collection as her second book Life of the Party or watch her read on video or in person, the poems are potent and very alive. 

Olivia Gatwood

Ode to my Jealousy

You plague of desert locusts born sullen in my gut, 
blood-red betta eating its own tail, how could I describe 
you forever as a mob, how I could learn 
the name of every kind of wasp and point to you, 
but I know you, my emerald heart, my wreath 
of kelp, are more timid than that— 
monstrous, yes, butt defenseless, also—soft 
and sacred like the skin in the pit of my arm, 
how I flinch and scream when my lover pokes at you, 
calls you out, you, born from a mother I have not 
uncovered, you, evidence of this reliable pain, 
blood trickle from beneath my vest, you bigmouth 
party-crasher, all talk with a plush knuckle, 
you mirror made of warped wood, lying dormant 
while I win, I win, I win, I win, sometimes 
I dream of a surgeon, scooping you out 
and stitching me back up, combing my hair 
perfect over the scar, and my new smiling self 
emerging, how she feels so warm, when she 
hears her lover's name in another girl's mouth. 

BY OLIVIA GATWOOD

Where to Start - 

Start on youtube, or on Gatwood's own website. Then buy New American Best Friend. Anyone who's had to grow up can relate.