I am my mother’s daughter

By Marion Rai

An immigrant anthem.

I. Beginning;
fragile hands hold me firm to the ground,
pressing weight of her heart
we are painted of a
lost, unknown
culture: आमा.
mother and daughter. afraid 
foreign land, fleeting fears


II. End
It begins   and     ends
there isn’t a middle. It’s over as soon as it begins, abrupt.
Like broken english that has been left to
scratch the walls of her neck, 
choking 
in the depths of her throat and then
the deafening silence. 

III. मृत्यु; eulogy
haze. haze. haze. her
silent pleas to not bury her culture within her, 
muffled like withering flowers in my malnourished body.
Stifling stench of guttural death 
and frozen hands. 
I climb to the coffin and 
lay down
my mother’s dreams. 
a silent death to all our 
unspoken words.

Girls Write Now On the Other Side of Everything: The 2023 Anthology

Do you know what it’s like to communicate with your family across a salty ocean’s divide? Do you want the sun and moon to enter your home with stories written in embers? Do you seek voices that will punctuate the darkness? Welcome to the other side of everything. It’s the other side of silence, the other side of childhood, the other side of hate, the other side of indifference, it’s the other side of sides, where the binary breaks down. It’s a new paradigm, a destination, a different perspective, a mindset, a state of openness, the space between the endless folds in your forehead, hopes for tomorrow, and reflections on the past. This anthology of diverse voices is an everything bagel of literary genres and love songs, secrets whispered in the dark of night, conversations held with ancestors under the sea. 

READ ON THE OTHER SIDE

VISIT ANTHOLOGY LIBRARY

Process

The inspiration for this piece mostly came from within; it was more like an overwhelming feeling that flooded my mind for a fleeting second and longed to exist—to become a being of its own.