May 26, 2023
Describe your first friend of your race or ethnicity.
Wide-eyed and full to the brim with joy
Small in frame
Heavy in love
Our friendship had two iterations
Meeting in a middle childhood
Trick-or-treats and rollercoasters
Rejoining in a teenage adolescence
Sleepovers and third wheeling dates
Indian Club for solidarity beyond my comfort but for my growth
College visits turned to Facebook pokes turned to algorithmic memories
A glitter invitation to an interracial wedding amidst our rollercoasters
A consideration and inevitable decline
A curiosity and natural silence
Formative and distinct
My heart holds the first friend who opened the door to my identity
rajani gudlavalleti 