A Letter to Kerala
Updated: May 22
priya keralam.
you sound so foreign
in my mouth. just a whisper
in my memories. yet you feel
so safe.
what a difference
two years can make.
all i remember is the scent of
the munnar tea plantations.
the sounds of the river,
in the afternoons, and
my grandmother's rosaries
at night. monsoon nights where
the rain beat the devil in the
sky. masses at holy magi
that i never understood,
the tenderness of my
family's love, the sweet crunch
of gulab jamaan, the tearful
embrace of my grandparents
as i left for america. somehow,
you hold the most painful
and beautiful of
my memories.
nyan maari, kerala. i've
grown into my own person.
when i left you, i had no purpose.
i was lost, my thoughts fluttering
in the wind with no resting place.
now my tongue cannot form the
dialect it was so carefully taught,