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The Strangers 
​by Jai Hamid Bashir

I am the phantom in the tree outside.
Standing in front of an old house where  
an unremarkable schoolboy first took off
my bra and ran his hand over the band
of my underwear. He never found 
the oldies station on the radio. I stuck
gum under his bed. Hot grass curled 
in his cleats. Cold lemonade. The Venus
Flytrap traded from a butcher’s
yard sale on the window. Nothing spelled out 
from the seeds of inedible fruit smashed
on the sidewalk. He moved away 
and has children now. I returned 
to our hometown. I never wanted to. 
Recently, a stranger confessed his GPS 
speaks more kindly to him than his wife.
He then kissed me. I didn’t return 
a secret. I’ll never see him again. Yesterday,
at the sushi bar, my dress was unzipped, the skin
of my back slick and pink from falling 
asleep outside. A handsome man helped 
cinch the silk together. I have no trouble eating
anything raw. The horseradish and imitation 
fish went on pretending. Later, I took him
to my dirty, aging apartment.  I live
alone— letting out each dove
from a ruined cathedral. I want you
to think I’m beautiful
, I said, my eyes 
half-closed. Out by the meridian 
of the street, an old woman appears, 
can I help you? There is no refuge 
in telling someone about a life
they didn’t live. I was only given
my one dark body. I get back
in my car. There are other places
in different cities. There are different
freckles in the afterlife.

Jai Hamid Bashir
Jai Hamid Bashir is a Pakistani-American artist. She has been published in American Poetry Review, POETRY Magazine, Arkansas International, Guernica Magazine, Denver Quarterly, Radar, Crazyhorse, Asian American Writers Workshop, and others. Her work has been featured in The Best of the Net Anthology in 2022 and has received multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize. As an undergraduate, she also received an Academy of American Poets Prize. Jai is a graduate of Columbia University and resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

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  • Home
    • Poetry
    • Translations
    • Fiction
    • Interviews
    • Essays
    • Photography
    • Fine Arts
  • Masthead
  • Issues
    • Fall 2023
    • Spring 2023
    • Fall 2022
    • Summer 2022
    • Exilé Sans Frontières
  • AR Tunes
  • Submissions
  • Contact