Liberation Poetry (LGBTQ) – Today I Shaved My Hair Off

~ anna larner 
Today I shaved my hair off
To see me, to know me, to own me, to free me.
To be me.
Today I shaved my hair off
To breathe, to seethe, fermenting the fuck you I should have said long ago
To every fucker who kept me small. And fuck me for letting you all.
Today I shaved my hair off
Is this what confidence is? Is self-esteem the glance you give that says get your hands off my soul.
The tone of voice that holds steady and loud and clear, I’m speaking now you’ll damn well hear.
Today I shaved my hair off
You see me now don’t you? You hear me now don’t you?
You’ll feel me now won’t you?
Today I shaved my hair off – you might want to, too.
Liberation Poetry (LGBTQ) - Today I shaved my hair off. To see me, to know me, to own me, to free me. To be me.

Liberation Poetry by LGBTQ Poet Anna Larner

Discover the powerful poems of Anna Larner, a published poet with the prestigious University of Leicester’s Centre For New Writing and Paradise Press LGBTQ Independent Press.

Paradise Press is the imprint of the Gay Authors Workshop, established in 1999 to get their work published in the face of indifference by mainstream publishers to LGBTQ writing. They have published over forty books of prose and verse, together with anthologies of poetry/stories/essays by members of the Gay Authors Workshop.

University of Leicester’s Centre For New Writing – is an interdisciplinary research centre exploring and developing new directions in contemporary writing. They have an excellent track record of supporting diverse research projects to widen output, impact and environment. They commission new writing, publish and review writing, and organise an annual public programme of author workshops, masterclasses and other events that tie into our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

Anna Larner has read her liberation poetry at Gay’s The Word the oldest LGBT bookshop in the UK, Polari Salon the UK’s leading live showcase for emerging and established LGBTQ literary talent, and Shout Festival of Queer Arts and Culture which celebrates and platforms the work of LGBTQ artists. She has also published four novels with Bold Strokes Books an independent publisher of LGBTQ writing.