Shout

by Laurie Halse Anderson

lazy bees buzzing the strawberry bowl, smells of fresh coffee, cold beer, salt sweat of the workingmen

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

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.

writing rage-poems by the sea pen, hands, claws stained with ink until the bottle runs dry and then I write in blood, spit, and fire lantern’s light in the mirror scattering the dark