By Anika Malhotra
in the dining room, i brought
my grandmother’s hand to my
forehead. you know you’ve always
been my favorite, i heard
her tell my sister later
when she mimicked my movements.
i thought of it at night when
she split my hair with fingers
like the vimina of a balete tree
and combed through my scalp
with tapered nails.
Anika Malhotra is a senior in high school in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is a senior editor of her school’s literary magazine. An alumna of the Iowa Young Writers Studio and the Bard Young Writer’s Workshop, she is an avid writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and everything in between. When not reading or writing, she enjoys making films and studying/creating art.