Skip to main content

A Good Little Girls Zine

Neighborhood Beat

She peck, peck, pecks rhythmically drumming a beat that fills our upstairs. It’s sharp and sudden, making me panic.  I listen closely, following it to its origin.

I imagine her dominant body, wings, and beak: large and threatening, even.

The drumming vibrates through my roof and at first, I’m excited–it’s spring I think and dance to her beat…then I remember it’s a new roof she’s pecking!

I better run out and shoo her away.

So I burst outside and stand on my green lawn:  Wide legs, hands on hips, eyes bulging and stare at our neighborhood woodpecker.

She glances at me from her perch atop the chimney and continues drumming on the metal.

It’s not even wood!

I stay there fumbling to find a way to get her attention–I have none.

So instead, I begin admiring her tiny body and oddly long beak.
She flies off to a nearby tree and begins up again.

This time the sound is dull, light adding a new layer to the song she started.

She’s not doing her job, I realize…

She’s making music.

Picture of Sonia Chintha

Sonia Chintha

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.

Social Media

Most Popular

You Might Also Like...

The Hard Release

Walking through a field of sinking sand I push hard for clarity it doesn’t matter those words don’t matter I will not let them attach

Read More

A Crime to Be Houseless – The Belly of the Whale

My friend, Walter, stood about five feet and eight inches tall. He had sparkly warm blue eyes, weathered pink skin, and an electric, infectious smile. His wild eyebrows were often furrowed reflecting his deep thought, worries, and sadness. I met Walter after he was discovered living deep in the wild Northern California mountains.

Read More

Possessions

all the pieces they add up—to desires, deep yearnings of belongings that are not mine to have they hover, slap me with icy fingers, each

Read More

Security in Solidarity

Security in Solidarity by Celeste Bloom Illustration by Tatyana Safronova Edited by Pari Fahim Goff & Sonia Chintha The pork belly crackled in the cast

Read More