I
Am
a fucking mountain, sturdy, tall, muscular
you may try to move me, shoving with your words
you may try to blow a tunnel through me, use large sticks of dynamite to show me you are in charge
And I will remain me:
A mountain of a woman, no obstacle in my path, I rise to the heavens.
Peak above you!
Sonia Chintha is an Indian American writer who lives in the Washington DC area. She blogs, writes poetry, and fiction. She is also an English teacher who believes that our experiences teach us more than any test. She is the founder and co-editor of Good Little Girls.
“We have to make a full tea set.”
“Okay, okay,” Pooja said. She dug deep into the soil to retrieve our clay. I waited patiently for her to show me her roll-and-bend technique to make the tiny handles for our teacups. We were artists, rolling clay into the tea cups to use for our pretend tea parties. We were hosts. We were sculptors. We were friends. I was her confidante. She told me about the boys who teased her for raising her hand in class. She confessed that she couldn’t wait to get her menses. She told what she thought that was. Her narratives made me feel more. More than six. More than a measly first standard student. When we were together in public, I carried myself taller, like her, chest out, spine straight.
Illustration by Deema Alawa General Tso’s Recipe: A Self Portait by Celeste Bloom Instructions: Let the knife carve along the ribs of the carcass etch
Art by Katryna Carter In Defiance by Katryna Carter Nope. I refuse. I refuse to be a machine. I refuse to follow. I refuse to
Inside the tiny lunch room, with its tiny chairs and low ceilings next to the copier behind closed-doors In the corners of the hallways It