My Love Note to You

Today we tell our body dysmorphia to stuff it,
today we drink that water and send those emails and pay those bills,
today we remember that we are not our past
that every breath we breathe is one big cosmic fuck you to our abusers, 
that every hair we grow, every skin cell, 
every new freckle is something that your abuser has never touched,
that we are growing sunflower fields of bravery for no one else but ourselves, 
that loving ourselves may be our greatest cross to bear but it will be our greatest opus
today we remind ourselves that it's okay if the only thing you did today was breathe 
even when we live in a capitalistic society that equates our productivity to our worth, 
for nothing owns this soul, this body, but ourselves. 
Today, we accept our sensitivity as our magic to wield and not our undoing,
today is a good day because today is the day we tell ourselves "I love you" 
or maybe today is the day that we don't tell ourselves "I hate you" and that's good too. 
And if today isn't good, then I will see you in the morning, 
in the soft parts when the sun and moon light are still mixed and we will do it again;
for we have grown and we are growing, we have lived and we are living,
today, we whisper to ourselves, "I am alive and I am here." 
Today, today, today.

-anna sluder

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