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You Can’t Catch Me

By Stella Story

I’ve made it!

I’ve done it!

I broke through the barriers

Through the people trying to hold me back

Through the stereotypes that pushed me backwards

Through all the people who said I couldn’t

Through the rules

Through the regulations

Through what everyone thought about me

And though you may try

You can’t catch me

On Top Of The World

By Stella Story

From all the way up here

The people Look like ants

From all the way up here

The Buildings look like children’s toys

From all the way up here

The trees look like twigs

I could snap with my bare hands

All the way up here

All my worries disappear

All the way up here

Everything goes away

And I am left

On the iron bars

With my paint can and my brush

And myself

With nothing else

Her Floating House

By Stella Story

Her house floated up

Up, up into the blue

She was inside the house

With her husband

And her cats

They didn’t realize that they were no longer where I was

On the ground

They were still rocking in their chairs

Back and forth, back and forth

Inside their ancient house

With it’s paint chipping away

Their clothes still out on the line

She was reading a book

Little Women

And he was whittling

Up, up went the house

The house She had lived in all her life

Up, Up, Up they went

So far that no one could see them anymore

“George Dear, Where is the floor?”

The Desert

By Stella Story

When the blind man arrived in the city,

He claimed that he had travelled across a desert of living sand.

He told of us shifting dunes and of it moving like water,

He told us of great big monsters created from the winds,

and then destroyed the very same way.

He told us of walls that held him back but set him free.

He told us of dark pits of nothing but cries from below.

He told us of whispers and secrets that were lost in the dust.

When the blind man left the city,

He claimed he would see us again.

In my cell

By Stella Story

Come into my cell, make yourself at home

Oh, don’t sit there, you can’t

I can’t either

It does look comfy doesn’t it

I’ve been here since the beginning of time

Yet almost no time at all

I have seen everything and nothing

I can’t remember the last time I saw sunlight

I assume it was millennia ago

It may have been when I first came

Before they chained the door forever

When I was still a child

A child who didn’t know better but to follow

Follow the men who lead me here

And wouldn’t let me go

Disclaimer: This poem is not about my actual father!

Father

By Stella Story

He came home. Said nothing

He dropped his briefcase on the floor,

For my mother to clean up

He took of his jacket and threw it on the sofa,

For my brother to hang up

He sat down next to his coat

Kicked off his shoes.

In two different directions

For me to pick up

He got up and left

Locked himself in his office

In the office he hid in when

He felt threatened.

Usually by his boss

We were never allowed in the office

He loved it more than he loved us.

He didn’t come out for dinner

My mother had to bring it to him

He didn’t come out for dessert

My brother had to bring it to him

He didn’t take the dog out when the dog needed to go

I had to clean it up

He didn’t come with us

As we walked down the street

Into the purple and pink light of the sunset

He promised me we would play baseball

As soon as he got home

From from work

The same work he was always complaining about

So I played by myself

Instead of with him

Like I always did

Because even though father wasn’t at work anymore

He was never really home

Asalaam-o-Alaikum, it’s Phulan and welcome back to my advice blog where I teach you things that are helpful in everyday life! Today I will teach you how to deal with annoying younger siblings . First of all, I have a little sister named Shabanu who is not betrothed to anyone and she gets to just roam around like a boy would. Shabanu gets to help Dadi with the camels and everything that he does while I must sit in our sweaty hut with Auntie and her sons who do nothing entertaining. My advice for you is to just act interested in whatever thing they’re telling you even if it’s not interesting at all and then they will leave you alone faster than if you told them it wasn’t interesting! Sometimes Shabanu sometimes tells me that I am self-centered and she is wrong! I am not self-centered I am just pretty and I think everyone should know that! You can also tell them that Mama or Dadi needs them even if they don’t and they-being gullible- will go and find them and that will get them away from you for a little while. Also, you can just make up excuses of things that you need to do so that they can’t follow you. Those are just a few ways you can make your annoying younger siblings stop annoying you and I hope these tips help you!

Asalaam-o-Alaikum, it’s Phulan and welcome back to my advice blog where I teach you things that are helpful for everyday life! Today I will teach you how to make Chapatis. My family makes chapatis all the time because we have access to the ingredients here in the desert. They are super easy to make and also will make an annoying little sister quiet. Especially if you have a sister like Shabanu who is always trying to help but just makes things worse! Anyway, the ingredients you will need are flour, hot water, salt and oil. Mix the flour and salt together and then add the water and oil into the bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon so that it becomes dough. Then you are going to want to put flour over the dough so that it is not so sticky and separate in into 10 parts, or how ever many you want. Let it rest for a little while so don’t make this too close to dinner time, or else people will get impatient. I never get impatient but other people do. Then heat up your pan over the fire and pour just a little more oil into it. Roll out your balls of dough flat and put them into the pan and cook them on each side until there are little brown spots on each side. And there you go, a really easy recipe to make something that’s super delicious. This is my mother’s recipe and she is teaching me all kinds of things like this because I am now betrothed to my cousin Hamir and I am to be a good housewife and know what to do. I am to know how to cook and sew and care for children so that I am the perfect wife. I hope that this recipe helps you make delicious chapatis!