The flowers are still on the table,
the ones I so hastily purchased to brighten this place of mine
because those colors, they will break up this block of ice that’s burning my feet
but I couldn’t even place them in water—couldn’t give them their most basic need, couldn’t do for them
for I haven’t, haven’t been doing for me—my most basic need.
So they are dying.
slowly, a soft yielding death
while I, I remain standing on this frozen block,
feet numb.
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.
I am supposed to not care or not be bothered by it, but I am. I am supposed to be able to balance work and
Illustration by Deema Alawa Jaya Shoma Khallee* by Parivash Fahim Goff I give in to the sun baked sand, sink down against the smooth log
Recently I had a short conversation with someone dear to me about how she felt that she had “pigged out” that day. As I comforted