Long Distance

By Yosra Bouslama

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We deserve a medal you and I                                                                               
          for how we stalled desire 
into elastic. How we keep tugging 
          at both ends for a gust of air 
to stroke the fire beneath 
          our patience. But here’s a secret 
darling: this isn’t my first waiting
         Olympics. I’ve waited years                                                                                     
for my life to start when I thought life 
          only happens where everyone 
speaks the language I was raised 
          to worship. Then came the long 
layovers—the hours upon hours 
           at the airports of cities I was only 
allowed to glimpse from a padlocked 
          sky. The endless lines at customs 
while officers sniffed every brown 
           skin for the bashful tang of contraband
comfort food. I waited two years once
           to see my mother’s smile outside
a phone screen, to watch her from my bed 
           at dawn, crouching on her prayer
rug, the light tempered by her dark
           scarf draped over the lampshade, 
and to know that half her prayers
          are on my behalf. I’ve juggled enough
jet lags for the needles of my biological 
          clock to spin beyond time’s reach, 
beyond despair. But darling, what if that’s how 
          love wears off—you wait until 
you forget that you’re waiting. 

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Yosra Bouslama is a PhD candidate in literature at the University of North Texas. Born and raised in Tunisia, she received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue graduate studies in The United States in 2017. Her research interests include African Diaspora Studies and Postcolonial Studies. Three of her poems are forthcoming in Decolonial Passage.

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