Imagine “no” as a full sentence.
Not an opening for a political debate,
not initial terms for real estate negotiations.
A clear boundary outlined
not in the colonial sense,
yes, in the way you’re thinking of it
in the way that nations invade when they’ve garnered enough internal support to justify their “divine right” to more territory and attempt to manufacture international consent in order to take with near impunity, or, barring that, by force and an almost complete lack of concern paid to moralistic finger-wagging and sanctions levied by other countries.
Not that
something clear
something more protected than a UN Resolution, convention, mandate, or partition plan.
Something
like
respect?
of sovereignty
of authonomy
of self determination
Imagine if “no” was all I had to say to keep your hands, your body, your will away from me and the next thing said wasn’t
“why not”
“what if”
“how about…”
How about
just
No.
Caia Rose 