Madeline L Beckwith.

Poet · Writer · Spoken-word artist

Madeline L
Beckwith

Originally from Nebraska.
Las Vegas, her adopted home.

Meet the author

About the author

A life in words.

Madeline L Beckwith is a poet, writer, and spoken-word artist. She was the Las Vegas Grand Slam Champion in 2002 and runner-up in 2003. In conjunction with Clark County Parks and Recreation, she hosted the city’s first weekly poetry slam before branching out to other venues.

She toured across the country in support of her debut spoken-word album, What It’s Like for Girls. Her second album is UNfinished.

Her poetry has appeared in anthologies and literary journals including In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Bear the Pall: Stories and Poems about Loss, Unchaste Anthology Volume 2, The Red Rock Review, and Clark: Poetry from Clark County.

In her own words

Madeline Beckwith reads voraciously. She writes like a reader. She fights like a lover, and she loves, like a heroine in a harlequin romance And lives wherever the wind carries her

— Madeline Beckwith

Work in progress

Unreliable
Narrator

A hybrid poetry and prose book exploring memory, chronic illness, identity, and medical neglect.

A multimedia companion is being developed alongside the manuscript, bringing the written work into conversation with audio and visual material.

The theme of her earlier spoken-word piece “WILFG” (What It’s Like for Girls) returns in Unreliable Narrator, connecting the recordings to the manuscript now in progress.

Read manuscript previews

Contributions help cover my medical expenses and finish my new book, Unreliable Narrator.

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Unreliable Narrator · Manuscript previews

What It’s Like for Girls

The Body an Exhibit

Epigraph

This poem was so hard to write because it was so big and the world has so little time for female problems.

Exhibit A

(The Body is a Crime Scene)

It’s Laci Peterson’s photo on the evening news— her body dragged from the river, her unborn child beside her. It’s: Gloria Zamora. Laci Peterson. Suzanne Morphew. Ashley Vaia. It’s Maria Julian-Pichardo. Takeshia Eads. Harshita Brella. Mamta Kafle Bhatt. Their bodies… Someone is silencing all the mothers.
Exhibit B

What It’s Like for Girls 2025: The Body As An Exhibit

This war. This war. A war has been declared on the cradle of life itself. Do you know what kills most pregnant women? Not childbirth. Not addiction. It’s murder. It’s Laci Peterson’s photo on the evening news— her body dragged from the river, her unborn child resting forever beside her. It’s Gloria Zamora. Suzanne Morphew. Ashley Vaia. Maria Julian-Pichardo. Takeshia Eads. Harshita Brella. Mamta Kafle Bhatt… an endless stream of discarded women’s bodies their names slipping through history like unfinished prayers. Someone silencing all of the mothers
Exhibit C

What It’s Like for Girls 2025: The Body As An Exhibit

Most wives are killed by their husbands. Most women, by their boyfriends. Almost every murder of a woman is a love story turned autopsy. Each name tattooed on the tongue of a man who once called her baby. Their voices— sinister lullabies— still echoing *No.* Someone is silencing all the sisters. In 2025— a little brown girl is being held down by a woman she trusts because she was once a little brown girl too. Every 7 seconds. Every 7 seconds. Every 7 seconds. Right now… Her clitoris and labia scraped away with rusted blades, With the hope of keeping order. With the loss of self. The fulfillment of shame the weight of holding some man’s name She is sewn tight to be ripped open. And sewn shut again. Ripping And Sewing. Ripping. And sewing. Her lips closed. Closed. Someone is silencing all the daughters.
Exhibit D

The Daughters of the Digital Fire

They don’t remember a world before Instagram, before Hot Girl Summer, before Plan B in your purse. These daughters of download and defiance— born of hashtags and holy rage— never had their rights stripped in plain sight. But America taught them it could happen in a whisper. They watched America elect a rapist. — a pedophile. Twice. They’ve seen clinics shuttered. Judges shrug. Abusers trend. Tampons treated as contraband by men in ties who’ve never bled a day in their lives. “Boys will be boys.” …and girls? Girls get grabbed by the coat hangers. But these girls— they post receipts. They film the catcaller. They name the coach. They out the pastor. They curse the judge. They rewrite the law with eyeliner and blood. They are not silent. But they are still being silenced. They’re told they are: Too sensitive. Too angry. Too loud. Too queer. Too ungrateful. Too political. Too sexual. Too online. Their screens scream back. Their DMs drip with warning. Their safety is still a negotiation. Their joy still comes with terms and conditions. And still— they dance. Still they fuck. Still they create. Still they burn. Still they survive. They are the daughters of every silenced woman who dared to whisper— then shout. They are not waiting for permission. They are rewriting the scripture. And still— someone is silencing all the daughters. But not for long. Not this time. That’s not “what it’s like” for these girls.

Support the entire What It’s Like for Girls suite, The Body an Exhibit, with a contribution toward my medical expenses and finishing my new book, Unreliable Narrator.

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Earlier spoken-word recordings

On record.

The earlier recordings behind a continuing body of work.

Help with medical expenses and finishing my book.

Your contributions help cover my medical expenses and finish my new book, Unreliable Narrator. Contribute $1 for a track, or choose an amount to support an album, the book, or the entire suite. Thank you for your support.

What It’s Like for Girls album cover: a black-and-white childhood photograph, colorful alphabet blocks, and pink lettering

Debut album

What It’s Like for Girls

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The spoken-word album that Madeline toured nationally.

Track list 15 tracks

  1. But by Your GraceSupport this track — $1
  2. $11 Hamburger + bakeemSupport this track — $1
  3. Candied SpringsSupport this track — $1
  4. BleachersSupport this track — $1
  5. Police Line Do-Not X Part 1Support this track — $1
  6. The Men’s RoomSupport this track — $1
  7. Dear LoverSupport this track — $1
  8. Surina’s IntroSupport this track — $1
  9. Surina’s Little SisterSupport this track — $1
  10. Police Line Do-Not X Part 2Support this track — $1
  11. BlackSupport this track — $1
  12. Dear Dr. KSupport this track — $1
  13. FreeSupport this track — $1
  14. HEAR MESupport this track — $1
  15. Original WILFG’sSupport this track — $1
UNfinished album cover: black background with white FINISHED lettering, a red UN, and Madeline Beckwith’s name in red

Second album

UNfinished

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A collection including “I Love You To Pieces,” “Lucid Intervals,” and “Letter To Young Black Women.”

Track list 26 tracks

  1. Unfinished IntroSupport this track — $1
  2. I Love You To PiecesSupport this track — $1
  3. He Was in My Dream Again Last NightSupport this track — $1
  4. Do It RightSupport this track — $1
  5. UnfinishedSupport this track — $1
  6. Lucid IntervalsSupport this track — $1
  7. Don’t Leave MeSupport this track — $1
  8. FaintingSupport this track — $1
  9. I’m Allergic To My Spirit AnimalSupport this track — $1
  10. TeardropsSupport this track — $1
  11. NICU GardenSupport this track — $1
  12. Letter To Young Black WomenSupport this track — $1
  13. The PastSupport this track — $1
  14. Unfinished InterludeSupport this track — $1
  15. The Last NoteSupport this track — $1
  16. TantricSupport this track — $1
  17. On Dating PoetsSupport this track — $1
  18. ShariceSupport this track — $1
  19. TumorSupport this track — $1
  20. BreakdownSupport this track — $1
  21. Beautiful InsideSupport this track — $1
  22. HolesSupport this track — $1
  23. BleachersSupport this track — $1
  24. WILFGSupport this track — $1
  25. WILFG 2Support this track — $1
  26. Collecting SorrowSupport this track — $1

Remix recording

On Eating an $11 Hamburger… (Godchild Remix)

Godchild Remix featuring Madeline Beckwith

bakeem lloyd · Alchemy For Dummies (2005)

Support this track — $1