JewellENG1101D325/C325

Amberly Wegele

ENG1101

  1. Jewell

10 October 2019

Spoken Poetry

Poetry is a piece of literature that includes a series of devices that help shape a deeper meaning into a short amount of words. All types of poetry are fascinating, but my favorite type of spoken word poetry. It gives the audience a better view of the poet’s words as they are able to see and hear and feel what the poet is presenting.  In Olivia Gatwood’s “ Ode to the Women on Long Island”, she describes her gratitude towards the women on Long Island and makes the audience feel the same. Gatwood is a writer, a poet, and a feminist.  She uses a heavy accent to emphasize her lines when she speaks as the people in her poem. This to me was mesmerizing because she’s so forward with her words and accent and it made me think I was in Long Island. She wrote this for all females, trying to inspire them to be kind to one another and listen to others’ stories and to be like women she describes in her poem. She speaks about how the women are vicious toward each other but have so many beautiful priceless stories and love in them. She describes how the women are exactly that, women. They stick together and give advice along with their stories. They stand up for women when faced with danger and never show fear, they don’t let a man make them feel any less than they are, no matter who the man is. I love this poem because of her strong words and her strong voice, this is thanks to Gatwood’s use of pathos. Her words and voice and accents trigger an emotional reaction to the audience as she constantly mentions the women on Long Island. This poem is one of the two poems that made me want to listen to more spoken poetry.