what are you mining for

what are you mining for?

insides 

damp & dark

i’m not sure i want to be here

to be seen

by you

i’m not sure i want to be “i” 

what are you mining for? 

shall i label my compartments 

so you can understand? 

weave you a tapestry of all the habits 

you’ve put in me 

who’s words are these?

i don’t want to be near to your 

definition of a woman 

strangled from all directions 

where is the softness 

in you 

in me 

in he 

in she

in ze

in they

in us 

work emotionally | but from a distance 

there is no distancing 

howl ney baa whinny growl hiss bark snort choke moo ribbit cluck 

this task is absurd 

no unitarian will 

no united self 

let there be holes in me 

porous disemboweled transparent 

you need me to make a record of my own oppression? 

and so i ask you - where is the powerful discourse on love? 

make a mockery of me 

i don’t mind

make a mockery of me 

i don’t mind

make a mockery of me 

i don’t mind

& so i give you “a procession of specifically non-human gestures that unfold within my specifically human topography”

-n.nigro 2020