The Boy From Blue-Phamari – Sanjida Yasmin

before you came,
things were as they should be.
but since August 2016, since my 27-day
trip back from Rajshahi, Bangladesh:
I see your oval, hairless face
in my discolored ceiling bedroom,
every night.

I used to sleep with the lights off,
but now I have to use a green
fluorescent light bulb to cloak
your inky, raven eyes from
inhaling my every step.

now, when I look up,
I don’t see much —
except for your glossy
lips that look as if it’s been
dipped in shorishar oil,
curving upwards- revealing
all 32 of your sharp fangs.

Sanjida Yasmin is a Bengali-American storyteller and poet whose work explores South Asian traditions, transient movements from East to West, and most importantly, the mystery of time. Raised in the Bronx, NY, she graduated from The City University of New York where she wrote her MFA thesis on the senescence of mortals. She is a writer by night, lecturer by day.