When we did the play at school, I was the house
Or the walls that kept the cold out. Or the door
that let the fussy girl in.
She was beautiful in her frilly dress.
Life is easier for the golden haired.
What if you were the baby bear?
Come home to no porridge, a broken chair,
a stranger sleeping in your bed.
Who, upon discovery, jumps
out the window—no payment for damages,
no apology.
Stage right, arms raised, still.
Witness—
She comes in.
She sees.
She takes.
This chair is just right!
Arista Rawat Engineer
Arista Rawat Engineer is a poet whose work delves into questions that arise from the confluence of different worlds: modernity and tradition, language and culture, myth and literature. From Pune, India, she is working towards an MFA in Creative Writing at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. Her poems have appeared in the Roadrunner Review and Airplane Poetry Movement’s A Letter, A Poem, A Home: a collection of poems and essays.
Artwork: Brooke Shaden, mama bear
Website: https://brookeshaden.com/gallery/
Gingerbread House Lit Mag 