AA Manifesto

Illustration von Jasmina el Bouamraoui

as words are milked
from my laughing breast
so they are dedicated to her
she,  the other woman
she,  who’s sitting in the corner
    of my mind’s womb
there she is
    she crouches
    she holds herself
    tightly
I remember you
you’re a fucking liar

I am not in need –

I don‘t need your gaze
to validate my existence
I   desire   you
    to invite me
   
to look at
   
you
I don‘t need you
to turn my silence
into anything other
than silence

I   desire
    to let my silence speak,
   
for all my words keep me
    from touching your silence
I don‘t need you
to give me the space
that I need to breath

I need to talk

I   desire
    to exhale and let
    my breath
    go
I don‘t need you
to call my name
I don‘t need you
to describe my being
as your words only conceal my body
words are jail houses unless they were built and defined by myself
I   desire
    to belong to myself
I don‘t need you to tell me where I belong
I   desire
    to follow my longings
I don‘t need you
to give me the space I need
to become myself

I desire to overcome myself

I don‘t need you
to guide me into freedom

I don‘t need you

to explain to me the order and rules of this life

all tidiness fails due to stagnation

I  desire
    to hurl your rules in the yard
    of your precious goddamn big house and
    burn them and
    dance and
    sing all night
    and even longer

(they already caught fire)

I don‘t need you
to light my fire

I don’t need you
to be passionate
I   desire
    to live in terms of Begehren
    instead of Begierde
I don‘t need you
to teach me about radical love
it‘s an expression of cruelty

(I don‘t want you to want me to fight)

I   desire
    to love you
    softly in the distance
I   desire
    to be a lover
    a friend
    a guardian

    (a guardian)

I don‘t need you to define my limits
my own sense of shame and guilt are reminding me of my limits

reminding me of the limits you gave me

(as if I don’t belong to myself)

I   desire
    to tear these limits
    and redefine them
I    desire
    to question my boundaries
I don‘t need you
to teach me about truth

my thoughts lie to me time after time

I   desire
    to unlearn
    and relearn
    how to use
    my senses
    my skin
    my flesh
    my bones

my -

I don‘t need you
to teach me about life

your teaching
is a form of dying
you resist
to be alive

(I‘m already dead)

I   desire
   to come
    alive

(I desire a prayer of revenge.)