I am.
determined
creative
professional.
I don’t.
need a great name
even though I already have one.
I don’t.
need you to plan my life
or tell me what I should and shouldn’t do.
I am.
intelligent and capable.
—A masters degree
not in camp counseling
not in chaperoning
English teacher am I.
A strong oak
standing powerfully firm—alone
I don’t.
need you telling me
where to walk
how to be
who to be
I am
determined
creative
professional.
I am not you.
I am me.
Me.
ME.
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.
There’s a conveyor belt–slow moving. And You, you have your feet glued to it, letting it carry you–never walking yourself. In between–you and I; space
I nod politely, my eyes shift towards the green street sign a hundred feet away the table chatter about potty training and sleepless nights and
Illustration by Allie Olivares On Becoming by Ridhika Tripathee I walk through the park yearning to feel I allow myself to move for hours step.
In you I found the layer, the one and only layer that’s still unseen by most of my family: the whole me, complete circle. though