readers submission

POETRY / My heart's longevity comes from my maa's magnifying kindness

Maa, you are an endless exhibition / of sweet-sour happiness

FICTION / City of bougainvillea

“The roads are too clean. The sun is too bright,” she thought.

FICTION / Shadhin

Sumedha replied with annoyance, "I will make him say the words. It's so simple, 'Apni kemon achhen, bhalo?' Why can't he say it?"

POETRY / Anger and other blessings

A walkway through the crystal-clear lies

POETRY / Rebel is a letter in red

Where voices unite, a chorus strong, / Demanding justice, righting wrong

POETRY / Raw Magnolias

This is a garden, these are my petals; this is my armoring plant

POETRY / I've seen love

I've seen love/ Rolling down from a mother's eyes/ As she picks her lean child, bathed in innocent blood

POETRY / A means to an end

go further than/ what the hills have seen/ through their ice pick scars

November 4, 2023
November 4, 2023

My Son’s Shoes

Time, heavy as a thousand suns combined,/ Bends mothers, smaller than the ones they bore,

October 30, 2023
October 30, 2023

Little bits of love that remain

Your tea in the kettle, piping hot water/ No sugar, so that you can really taste the tea on your tongue

October 27, 2023
October 27, 2023

Bring humanity home alive

This universe’s heart is hollow now for humanity has died inside it.

October 21, 2023
October 21, 2023

Miles away

Back at home, food used to narrate stories. Here, food does not travel far to the nooks and crannies of Velutha’s heart; it only reaches his stomach well enough to leave him looking healthy and strong.

October 18, 2023
October 18, 2023

Muted sunrise

The hush of dawn and the whispered breeze,/ that caresses nature's resting face

October 14, 2023
October 14, 2023

Thoughts of an immigrant

She stands in front of the canvas and stares.

October 14, 2023
October 14, 2023

Jojo-Buri

the moon watches over you, when whales beach themselves, the tides wash them back home; the moon looks down

October 11, 2023
October 11, 2023

It’s a Love Story, baby just say yes

Sameer’s mother looked at her husband before quickly stepping in and attempting to defuse the situation. “You know it’s just a heritage thing. We’re not really Biharis".

October 11, 2023
October 11, 2023

Journey to Jerusalem

After our spiritual journey to the Old City and West Bank, the realities of life caught up to us.

October 10, 2023
October 10, 2023

Falastin

News from Gaza rips the heart open/ Idlib is burning too