Toward an Unfinished Work IX (from “Daughters of Sarkhan”)
In this, I too become a daughter of Sarkhan. A baptism by flecks of river water, by two cold hands that reach to grip my own.
Mia Ayumi Malhotra is a Kundiman and VONA/Voices Fellow from the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds an MFA from the University of Washington and serves as the Associate Editor of Lantern Review. Read more at: miamalhotra.com.
In this, I too become a daughter of Sarkhan. A baptism by flecks of river water, by two cold hands that reach to grip my own.
Two sisters, birthed from the fissure where land twists violently into a muddy, wet gash. The first, a ragged form, watching from the trees.
How to write this world. Its tangled jungles, mangrove roots. Its dengues and malarial fevers.
