Paperweight Poetry

It is the space between words And the space between the time that things are right and despair  Where he couldn't breathe under the smothering pillow feathers of pain But she danced like hope in the in between To the melody that made him tell pain to be damned.  -anna sluder

Death is an oblivious child That wears pink tulle and lace  Puffy sleeves and a sparkling fake tiara That dons a fairy princess wand  And taps random people on the head And we pray that Death doesn't choose us That Death gives our loved ones a pass For unaware of the monstrosity of it all  She thinks it's just a silly game  As she skips along in her ballet shoes Swinging her wand and singing sweetly "Duck. Duck. Goose."  -anna sluder

The thought of death has always tasted like iron in my mouth Like I can already discern the flavor of the blood that hasn't yet spilled out of my body Like I can taste the thing that will leave me and the same very thing that will kill me.  -anna sluder

I have worn loneliness like a skin Been in company with happiness But never dressed in it One time I airbrushed a smile upon my face But misery turned it down So I finally chose to write a letter to my loneliness  Asking it, begging it to tell me Why I had to be all alone And loneliness wrapped her hands around my waist Pulled me in close, her cold hollow breath against my ear And whispered, "You aren't alone. You have me."  -anna sluder