Life with Rha Arayal

Our guest this month was the young poet Rha Arayal. We had a captivating talk about her poem ‘The Girl That I Am/The Girl That I Should Be,’ how to handle growing up bicultural, being published at sixteen, and more. It was delightful to speak with her; it's amazing to see someone that age demonstrate such inner strength. Rha Arayal is a 19-year-old British Nepali writer living in Wales. She enjoys examining the balance of nature and nurture, especially the notion of an Asian Welsh identity, as well as exploring racism and kindness and other aspects of humanity in her writing. Her debut poetry collection, Encapsulated Emotions, was published with Genz Publishing in 2021. When she's not writing, she loves watching American vampire shows, practicing martial arts and buying second hand books. Poem: the girl that I am/the girl that I should be she crouches on the floor wearing mud-encrusted flip-flops there is a red shawl wrapped tightly around her waist it holds her brick phone which has run out of battery it holds her aching back like PVA glue wrapping around jigsaw pieces   she reminds herself that she is no one just a village girl who cuts grass for the cow her mother milks it and loves it her father carries the milk on a motorcycle into town   this world may be alien to you but it is almost home to me but it nearly happened to me but it also never did and for that, I am grateful   she isn't scared of snakes winding up her legs her skin is slightly cracked and is darker than mine sun cream is too expensive and the village shops only sell instant noodles   she isn't afraid of cows or spiders or the dark they stomp and crawl and engulf her life they are a crucial part of her life they are alien to me   so many sources of brutality of nature and of rich cultural love surround her like her red shawl which is split at the seams   her grandmother owns the other half my grandmother, who cries to me on the phone my grandmother, who I hope is hanging on like crimson threads swaying in the wind oblivious to snakes and cows and spiders and the dark   Instagram @encapsulated_emotions Click here for a copy of her poetry book Encapsulated Emotions on Amazon