Paperweight Poetry

Let every limb of my being  Be an anthem to the unwanted So that when my bones clatter they will sing: I love you, I want you, I care.  -anna sluder 

Step right up Please keep your hands and penis to yourself Catcalls and groping are not permitted Consent required.  -anna sluder

Forget oblivion I hope our names sink into quicksand And they bury our love story with our bodies For I would rather be forgotten Then have the students read words in a textbook that will never explain  How we lived, how we loved And I would rather be lost in recollection  Than be the cold headstone of a memory.  -anna sluder

I want to stand out on the edge of a cliff and scream  I want to carve my name into each tree Drip a bit of my blood upon every continent and country  I want to rupture the eardrums of this world with these words: I was here. I lived. I loved. I existed.  I was here.  -anna sluder

I'm sorry that I loved you too much That I held on too long I'm sorry, Life Sorry that I wanted to live you.  -anna sluder

Sometimes you have to force yourself to cry  Sometimes you just have to wake up at three am and scream Let catharsis howl like a wild animal Shaking a society intolerant to anything louder than monotony.  -anna sluder

I'll never let you think that I forgot What you did last summer  When blood ran like heat, thick and hot  Even though they couldn't charge you I'll always hold the crimes to the boy  Who kissed me under the sky so blue I hope that when you die she and your regret is the last thing you see I know what you did last summer I know what you did to me.  -anna sluder

I think we make our first loves boys and girls who'll never love us back Because in a way they are mirror images of the lack of love for ourselves.  -anna sluder

I c annot believe that it took eighteen years For someone, not even my mother or sister but a stranger to tell me To stand your damn self up in the midst of mirrors and tears  And love your own soul and body.  -anna sluder