Dry by Tejal Doshi
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They lay stillborn,
devoid of heat and heart.
She pressed her ear, shuddering,
to their chests. Buried her babies herself
tugging weeds, swaying beneath the sky’s dead heath.
Blinked. Begged charred clouds to tear apart into shards of water.
She tasted the earth, lay curled with her girls. Hands tightened into fists,
like a baby clinging to its home body. Girls, he’d growled, girls
burden. She’d whispered: Why? What sin did my babies
commit to earn a death sentence? She thrust her
fingers into her mouth, yanked the words
snagging her teeth, choked on
her cries, flung them to
the grave.
They lay
stillborn,
devoid of heat and heart.
About the Writer...
Tejal Doshi is a high school student of Lotus Valley International School from India whose work appears in Blue Marble Review, Sandpiper Magazine, The WEIGHT Journal, The Start Literary Magazine, Cathartic Youth Lit, and elsewhere. Find out more about her at https://tejaldoshi.carrd.co/
About the Artist...
Shanwill Wang is a junior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. At DASOTA, Shanwill is a visual arts major. The medium of their piece is paint.