Sleep, Wake

Sleep wake
Her legs gnarled within themselves like a twisted tree trunk in the middle of the hallway at school
Sleep wake
And people whirl by like leaves caught in a vortex of hurricanes
Sleep wake
So the lovers carve their names into her stomach, sap oozing out
Sleep wak
So the rednecks pockmark her with bullets for target practice
Sleep wa
So the popular girls crack her arms, climbing her to get ahead,
Sleep w
So the jocks chop and carry her for weight training before the football game
Sleep
And the geeks slice her into thin paper to carry the heft of their equations
Sleep Sleep

-anna sluder

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