Monsoon Season by Sonia Chintha
Edited by Parivash Fahim Goff & Andrea Nevin
A fire was born at midnight
in monsoon season,
Maharashtra.
Everyone she touched
would ignite, but
some would scare
She is–
aggressive,
abrasive, intimidating,
scary, defiant,
Bitch.
disciplined since birth.
for being:
too
confrontational.
disobedient.
unfeminine.
placed on an improvement plan
for being brown as fuck.
letters placed in her file
warning her to teach within the invisible lines
of the racist institution.
punished by
family, friends,
supervisors
for:
Not conforming
Resisting the box:
the skinny white box she used to yearn to fit
and would not, could not
even if she held her breath and starved herself.
this world strives to mold her
into an obedient body,
a compromising mind like a leaf in the wind,
bending when pressured,
the pressure of these tectonic plates fighting to shift?
she stands firm upon them
strong legs, strong feet, strong ass that rumbles when pressured.
A fire was born at midnight during monsoon season in Maharashtra.
Every single person whom she encounters
would ignite or try to stomp out.
born to pushback
principled deep inside the resistance
breasts that have never fed another
womb empty forever, now in a trash can somewhere
a cervix detached
breathing the fire
defiantly eating carbs
buying a size 10 and 12 and 14
with a trail of notes behind her,
notes that scold and force her
to
submit
a dusty road of names she stomps on
names meant to oppress
Still.
she.
rises*
each day
shatters the boxes this world has built
to keep her still.
A fire was born at midnight
in a monsoon downpour
in Maharashtra
Some walk towards her.
Others yearn to smother.
*Still I rise a poem by Maya Angelou inspired this poem.
Sonia Chintha
Sonia Chintha is an Indian American writer, editor, artist. She cooks, colors, and designs floral arrangements to zen her out. She is an antiracist educator and activist. Her two french bulldogs are how she makes up for the physical affection she did not receive as a child.
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