A dazzling debut collection of raw and explosive poems about growing up in a sexist, sensationalized world, from a thrilling new feminist voice. i’m a good girl, bad girl, dream girl, sad girl girl next door sunbathing in the driveway i wanna be them all at once, i wanna be all the girls I’ve ever loved —from “Girl” Lauded for the power of her writing and having attracted an online fan base of millions for her extraordinary spoken-word performances, Olivia Gatwood now weaves together her own coming-of-age with an investigation into our culture’s romanticization of violence against women. At times blistering and riotous, at times soulful and exuberant, Life of the Party explores the boundary between what is real and what is imagined in a life saturated with fear. Gatwood asks, How does a girl grow into a woman in a world racked by violence? Where is the line between perpetrator and victim? In precise, searing language, she illustrates how what happens to our bodies can make us who we are. Praise for Life of the Party “Delicately devastating, this book will make us all ‘feel less alone in the dark.’ ” —Miel Bredouw, writer and comedian,  Punch Up the Jam   “Gatwood writes about the women who were forgotten and the men who got off too easy with an effortlessness and empathy and anger that yanked every emotion on the spectrum out of me. Imagine, we get to live in the age of Olivia Gatwood. Goddamn.” —Jamie Loftus, writer and comedian,  Boss Whom Is Girl  and  The Bechdel Cast “I’ve read every poem in  Life of the Party . I’ve read each of them more than once. In some parts of the book the spine is already breaking because I’ve spent so much time poring over it and losing hours in this world Olivia Gatwood has partly created, but partly just invited the reader to enter on their own, caution signs be damned. This book is enlightening, inspiring, igniting, and f***ing scary . I loved every word on every page with a ferocity that frightened me.” —Madeline Brewer , actress,  The Handmaid’s Tale, Orange Is the New Black,  and  Cam “I cannot remember reading a collection of poems in one sitting before, but I dove through Gatwood’s in one evening—and then came up for air and dove again.” —Lauren Berry, author of The Lifting Dress   “Gatwood’s poems invite a contemporary understanding of sexuality and the feminine form, feminism and inclusion, intersection and advocacy. Her metaphors and images are both breath and being. This book is an offering to the silenced, for firepower and reflection. A haystack of hallelujahs resides in these pages.” —Mahogany L. Browne, author of Black Girl Magic   “I love Olivia Gatwood’s voice, her spirit, her genius way of turning and turning and turning a poem until it shines. These poems are a light. I’d follow this book anywhere. I’d trust it with my life.” —Carrie Fountain, author of Burn Lake Olivia Gatwood has received national recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as an educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. She is the author of the poetry chapbook New American Best Friend , and her poems have appeared in such publications as Muzzle, Winter Tangerine , Poetry City , Tinderbox Poetry Journal , and The Missouri Review . As a finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World Poetry Slam, and the National Poetry Slam, Gatwood has been featured on HBO, HuffPost, MTV, VH1, and the BBC, among other media outlets. She is a full-time touring artist, and has performed at more than two hundred schools and universities worldwide. Girl after Ada Limón   i don’t think i’ll ever not be one even when the dozen grays sprouting from my temple take hold and spread like a sterling fungus across my scalp, even when the skin on my hands is loose as a duvet, draped across my knuckles, even when i know everything there is to know about heartbreak or envy or the mortality of my parents, i think, even then i’ll want to be called girl, no matter the mouth it comes from or how they mean it, girl, the curling smoke after a sparkler spatters into dark, girl, sweet spoon of crystal sugar at the bottom of my coffee, girl, whole mouth of whipped cream at the birthday party, say girl, i think, i’ll never die, i’ll never stop running through sprinklers or climbing out of open windows i’ll never pass up a jar of free dum dums i’ll never stop ripping out the hangnail with my teeth i’m a good girl, bad girl, dream girl, sad girl girl next door sunbathing in the driveway i wanna be them all once, i wanna be all the girls i’ve ever loved, mean girls, shy girls, loud girls, my girls, all of us angry on our porches, rolled tobacco resting on our bottom lips our bodies are the only things we own, leave our kids with nothing when we die we’ll still be girls then, too, we’ll still be pretty, still be loved, still be soft to the touch pink lip and powdered nose in the casket a dozen sobbing men in stiff suits yes, even then, we are girls especially then, w