Paperweight Poetry

And I feel like I'm quaking here With the light gouging out my pupils Sweat wobbling down my temple As the room sways and stares The rough texture of the microphone grating my lips Shaking, not breathing For as the melody plays and you sing I cannot join in Yet I am still chained to the stage With not a single thing to say but the absurd Trembling as you sing something to which I cannot follow Something to which I have never heard For you said "I love you" And that changed all the words. -anna sluder

When it comes down to it You always breathe It is the first act you do upon arrival in this world And the natural thing you do when you cannot remember to do anything else or when you don't know how to feel or what to say you still always breathe well that's the thing I cannot do in this instant I cannot remember that But I do remember this You are beautiful. -anna sluder

Society is nothing more than a mere taxidermist That packs us all with expectations and lies And stitches us back up, then needles our lips Stretching the skin up into a victimized grin Sewing pleasure upon our faces in response to the rules But bodies satiated with distortion and deception Cannot do more than be posed and angled Stretched and set Boxed and performed in a museum To flaunt the flawless citizen to mirror But as you show me off I hope to God that you see The little stitch that snaps in the corner of my mouth The edge of my lip trying to frown Telling you to get the hell out Before you too, are a hollow stuffed man. -anna sluder