Home is not the same without you, but The stairs are painted with the mark of your footsteps The glass is stained with your bindi gum marks The cupboards smell the same way your sarees did The room is filled with the echo of your laughter The bedroom still has the smell of your medicines The kitchen still has the aroma of your achaar Nothing of yours left us, but you did, Nani
Still Has
Tanvi Jeph
3 Questions for Tanvi
What was your process for creating this work?
In June 2022 I lost my Nani (maternal grandmother). I was very attached to her and the pain that I was going through and still am is very immense. Our home is not the same without her and just as I enter a room one memory of her comes to me and all I do is smile.
What is the significance of the form you chose?
The significance of the form is that I am clearly able to express my emotions and feelings through it.
What is the significance of this work to you?
This poetry piece will always be close to my heart just like my Nani was because she is a person to whom I was really attached with and this poem conveys the little things that I have felt after losing her and how much I needed her because she completed me as a person.
Tanvi Jeph is a high school sophomore who enjoys writing poetry and riding bicycles. She also has her own organization The Dried Review which she founded in April 2022.