it's a burning or a biting
it's a hopeless kind of fighting
it's a knifing or a flaming
it's a helpless kind of blaming
it's a beating or an eating
it's an ordinary bleeding
something slicing and erasing
open wide but in a casing...
Fifteen-year-old Vidya wants to go to college. This is, of course, a rather weird choice in British-occupied India in the early 1940s. When Vidya receives encouragement from her charismatic, loving father, she is thrilled. Then they happen upon a peace march in the street, and despite Appa's warning...
The world came into focus slowly, as though he were being pulled out of mud. Reality returned in pieces: the crickets chirping beyond the open window, the warm blue of the dawn sky, sweat soaking his sheets. Luc pulled himself to a sitting position, pushed his damp hair out of his eyes, and took a l...
Am I supposed to be tall and thin
With almonds for eyes and honey for skin?
Do you want for my heart to have numbers inside
So my ribcage can show and my stomach can hide?
My features are round and my body is tough,
And I hear, “Tone it down – muscle isn't enough.
Let your bones tell the e...
I
Nobody Came
I went to the backyard tonight. The sun was deep yellow and the air was clear. I could smell summer in the neighborhood.
But when I closed my eyes and tried to feel them there, nobody came. I could sense their flavors, could feel that they should be with me, but the yard was ...