i.
Two passports to leave /one to return
The homeland of my heart / is a ghost
playing saz / on a rooftop
In the billowing night / Home prickles at my skin
Ears swallow and strain/ The admixture of language/ Arabs in arabic/ Arabs in american/
Two seas separated / by a seam
ii.
On a plane-ride to pine nuts / and cherry picking
The flight attendant runs my foot/ With her juiced cart / I kick and land / in a desert as large
as my imagination/
They stamp my book /
with useless geometry / Home becomes a dense fog / an undercooked hamburger
pushed to the edge / of a paper plate
iii.
Once at this hipster / bar in detroit / I am interrupted / per usual / a man praising /
my survival / “It’s so progressive / Of you /
writing / your thoughts / down
In a place/ like / this”
Another disconnected flight / Over the atlantic/ The pilot / declares judgement day/ I use the dull / kitchen knife /Under my seat
As flotation/ I cut my hair/ as offering/ to land anywhere/ solid
iv.
My documents fight / cage match dirty/
in my suitcase/ garbage foams at the zipper / my bribes don’t work / stagnation as barb-wire/ borders
My bags are overweight / the counter girl warns / that next time / a blood price /
resembling chemical attacks / and crying
/ will be required / for re-entry
v.
The agent interrogates/ randomly selects /my sheet music / finds smuggled/
sumac and flowers in my suitcase /
a brochure with green & yellow flags
hide my underwear /
“did anyone talk to you” / Yosemite Sam mustache asks me
/ “Only in English” / is my somber reply /
so they recruited you/
not very well /
you’re free to go /
Where?
Yasmine Rukia is a Lebanese-American experimental poet, professional social justice bore and the reigning meme queen of Metro Detroit. Her hot takes exploring the nexus of arabesque america, womxnhood, taboo, islam and pop culture blurring the lines between fiction and futurism can be found on PaperMag, TheRedFez, Cliterature, Jaffat El-Aqlam, and others, including her IG theflowerofcarnage.