tanka trio for applying eyeliner

rita mookerjee the glowup

Remember: more is

more and don’t try to do it

in one stroke. I can

do it but I’ve had twenty

years of practice. Yes, I was

sneaking my mom’s kohl

from her vanity at ten

and tracing to my

temples for ballet nights when

I felt real, brown, bright.

Muscle memory

ties that feeling to my brush

so that when I glide

from tearduct to mideye, I see

spotlights: where I’m meant to be.

vol. 01
summer 2021

A South Asian femme stands in front of a glassy building in a city wearing a short black A-line sleeveless high neck dress and black pointed toed pumps. She has long straight dark brown hair, smokey eyes with long eyelashes and tattoos down one of her arms. She is looking off camera in a more candid pose while walking.

about the artist

Rita Mookerjee is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Women's and Gender Studies Program at Iowa State University. Her poetry is featured in Juked, Hobart Pulp, New Orleans Review, The Offing, and the Baltimore Review.