by Ankita Anand

Grandmother isn’t friends with English.
Yet she said while growing up she had heard
That when women study too much
They get “hysteria.”

She was worried for me.

Sometime between her limited, till-grade-five, formal education
And her infinite informal education
They had made sure to teach her, in more than one language,
The terms for illnesses women can contract
If they seek to expand.