Research

Poetry inspiration

This poem is a spoken word poem by American poet and writer Olivia Gatwood. I’m highly interested in spoken and slam poetry and found that this project was perfect for bringing in this outer inspiration.

Gatwood’s work often has high themes of feminism and coming of  age and crime, many of her poems have been an inspiration to this project but none more than “ode to pink”. 

To me this poem articulates in words a part of the story to my painting series. To me this ode to pink can be seen as an ode to the past, to girlhood, false nostalgia and safety, but there’s this duality to is as she also makes reference to the violence of it all, the switchblade, the fight, the mace, even the tool box. This perfectly describes the nostalgic world I’ve been trying to create through my paintings. 

Ode to pink   By Olivia Gatwood 

 My favourite colour is Pepto Bismol, 

My favourite colour is Amoxicillin, 

My favourite colour is the calamine bottle, 

I want to be sick just to swallow you, 

Offer up my most blood filled parts and rub pink on the itchy pink bites, 

Everything keeps talking about their muses and I want one too but I don’t believe in people so I nominate you,

Always using your best baby voice to get the discount, 

Slurring your words the whole time.

Something I learned in middle school after Elise smashed Vivienne’s head into the side walk twice,

So she got two bumps like horns and everyone called her the devil, 

Is that you never know someone is a fake bitch,

You can just feel it, 

And that’s reason enough to hate them, 

And I like you for it, 

I liked Vivienne too to be honest. 

I like the way you bait and switch, 

Ponzi scheme doing a pirouette, 

Boiler room boutique, 

Tulle, 

If rubbed hard enough against the skin starts to feel like sandpaper, 

The way all our wounds begin with you, 

I’m not looking for empowerment, 

I don’t care about femininity or whatever, 

I just like the things they call you when you change, 

Coral, 

Bubblegum, 

Millennial, 

Hot. 

I like the way everyone has an opinion and all you have is a comeback, 

You show up to the party with a new hair cut and everyone convinces themselves that they’ve never met you, 

Offers to pour you a drink, 

Wants to try on your fabulous coat. 

I fall for the marketing, 

I bought the mace for girls, 

The toolbox, 

If I could make it so, I’d make it so, 

My whole house covered in a layer of you, 

If my roommate wasn’t a goth we’d have a couch the colour of flamingo, 

A fridge like a dipped and dyed Easter egg, 

Inside only Rosé and sliced grapefruit, 

Himalayan salt In the cabinet, 

Bert juice smeared across the counter. 

My dainty assassin,

High stakes, 

Rare stake,

Wisest rucky on the team, 

If the thing I hate is the colour of you, 

I love it. 

There’s a pink switchblade on my counter, 

If a man holds it to my throat one day I’ll make an exception, 

For you, 

I’ll smile and say, 

Do it.