manifesto

when people hurt me I want 

to know why 

I want lists 

of reasons actually 

but most violence takes 

on the logic of a car crash 

no one planned to do it 

it was the result of the absence of thought 

a distraction a slip in an altered state 

me, I wouldn’t die for anything 

except myself 

and I guess then what would be the point of all that trouble 

I’m worried that someday I am going to hurt someone so badly and I won’t know why a bird dies at the glass of my window 

why did it want to come inside

Nora Rose Tomas is a queer writer living in Brooklyn.