BRAIDS by Krisha Wignarajah

CONTENTS

It is raining...

Braids

Birds have wings...

Flies buzz...

It is evening...

Grade Two

I go home...

Wellawatta Outdoor Bazaar

Curfew

Amappa's Eyes

Islands

I reached out...

Evening Walk

Awakening shadow...

The Flight

A Robin's Bath

The Heron and the Swan

War on a Mango

Tea with Dadda

Granite Stone

Sigh with the wind...

Today, I have gone back...

About the Poet

Acknowledgements

Chapbook Home

Friday Circle Home

Braids

by Krisha Wignarajah

Grade Two

We sit in groups of four but are not allowed to speak. One girl breaks the code. In voluminous chiffon sari, comes Twister with a sneer slashed across her face. The rod raised and the judiciously woven braids the little girl tosses are deftly caught in fat, strong palms. Ruler to shoulder contact cracks in our ears. This is Fishing 101 not the Writing class.