Charmaine Arjoonlal

SECRETS

I waited behind the wall to watch them
fawn skin and giggles
crisp uniforms and ponytails.
I knew they’d be a juicy treat and I salivated
drool dripped
a pond formed
deep, dark
I gazed into it and it stirred
ripples appeared
it clouded,
I stepped back and screamed
the building shook and shuddered
concrete and dust,
I looked into the pool and saw
Nothing


Charmaine's YouTube video reading of "Secrets"


Charmaine confesses: "I have been thinking about the structures created to perpetuate the Colonization of Indigenous people and people of colour world- wide, such as Residential schools, and the subsequent crimes against children that went unpunished."

CHARMAINE ARJOONLAL is a social worker who lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. When she’s not squeezing in writing, she enjoys hanging out in coffee shops, biking and swimming in cold lakes. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Rumpus, Under the Gum Tree, MUTHA, Lothlorien Poetry Journal and elsewhere. Charmaine is on Twitter @arjoonlal.