Getting dressed all at once.
By Sana Aslam.
“Age 8, and I learn to finnaly put on a kurta.”
Artwork by Nina Zdanovic.
Age 8, and I learn to finally put on a kurta. I, awkward and clumsy, would put my
head into the fibers first, squeal around, whining, flailing, fidgeting to place
the arms. Once, I thought I’d be stuck there, in misery, forever. And once,
I shouted I HATE MY LIFE just to try it out. But soon before dhuhr,
through crack of door, I accidently see Grandmother. There underneath
window light, her long belly cradled in a banyan, skin of wrinkles like rivers,
beautiful and brown, she holds up a gray cotton, slides, so gracefully, arms in
first. Oh. I skip onto the kitchen to eat an ice lolly like nothing happened.
Like a smile is not pressed on my face; like I don’t wonder for the rest of every day:
is this what Ms. meant going on and on about some man called Boodaw,
some man and his Nearvana.
The Blood Pudding – October 15, 2020
Sana Aslam loves stories, people, places and their intersections. She is from Lexington, Kentucky.
Nina Zdanovic is originally from Vilnius, Lithuania, and is currently based in Tokyo. Her work reflects her belief that humans don’t live in an objective world, that the reality that surrounds us always reflects what we are going through. She explores how our memories, thoughts, and experiences affect how we perceive reality and searches for the intersection between the real and mystical, between the inner and the outer worlds. You can find her and buy her work at ninazdanovic.com.