Shout

by Laurie Halse Anderson

hippos

payback

first blood

12. I wasn’t just encased in hardening concrete up to my chin; it was pouring down my throat. I was in a race to see if I would die from the outside in or the inside out.

The stench of the injury attracts maggots which hatch into clouds of doubt and self-loathing

the dirt you feel inside you nourishes anxiety, depression, and shame poisoning your blood, festering in your brain until you will do anything to stop feeling the darkness rising within anything to stop feeling— untreated pain is a cancer of the soul that can kill you

Home was still hellish, afire with the painful realization that no matter how much I loved my parents my love could not fix them

every second stroke as I lifted my mouth out of the water to breathe I opened my eyes to watch until one day my fins began to grow feathers

Grandpa wanted all of us grandchildren to see him in his coffin to learn that death is to be accepted, not feared

you don’t get many perfect moments in life our reunion was one of them

Daddy worked a little, walked a lot on the towpath crowded with ghosts. Wrote poetry, cried, contemplating suicide trying to ride out the tide of despair and keep breathing.

For years I thought that was her plan but recently I’ve begun to doubt it, remembering her proud satisfaction when I made a better life for myself. I think that giving me the most boring job in the history of the world was my mom’s way of loving me.

never became a translator unless telling stories counts

too many grown-ups tell kids to follow their dreams like that’s going to get them somewhere Auntie Laurie says follow your nightmares instead

cuz when you figure out what’s eating you alive you can slay it

the question is born out of true confusion no one ever told him the rules of intimacy or the law, his dad only talks about condoms with a “don’t get her pregnant” warning his mom says “talk to your father” so he watches a lot of porn to get off to be schooled porn says her body is territory begging to be conquered no conversations required you take what you want an occupation of men those boys taught me

to talk about consent get real about consequences respect the room enough to tell the truth cuz, lordy lord, they need it

Censorship is the child of fear the father of ignorance and the desperate weapon of fascists everywhere.

The opposite of innocence is not sin. Dearly beloved, the opposite of innocence is strength.

study that number, and no matter what it is, forgive yourself because no, my friend, you are not overreacting. Not one bit.

but the girl at that school, so haunted, smashed all the reflections, boarded up the windows, and bolted the doors forever stuck at fifteen years old judged to serve a life sentence for what they did

We should teach our girls that snapping is OK, instead of waiting for someone else to break them.

some of us breed, pouring blood into love, planting his seed in our egg creating life and feeding it our red-coated strength birthing in a torrent of salt

and blood we are mountains

don’t call it a period: call it an exc...

to be born: shame turned inside out is rage.

and then I write in blood, spit, and fire lantern’s light in the mirror

scattering the dark stories activate, motivate, celebrate, cerebrate, snare our fates and share our great incarnations of hope thanks for listening.