Dust

Sarah Kabamba

he traces the tattoo
of Africa on my back
tells me how he wants
to go back to Sierra Leone

he traces the tattoo
of Africa on my back
tells me how he wants
to go back to Sierra Leone
I want to ask him
how he can love a mother
land that chewed and spit
him out like broken teeth
but when I open my mouth
all I can taste is the grittiness
of sand. I’m scared
he’ll smell the graveyard I carry
behind my lips

Sarah Kabamba is a word-obsessed, tea-loving, fourth-year Law student with an English Minor. She believes in the power of words in constructing identity and recognizing the importance of family, beliefs, and culture. She currently resides in Ottawa, where she writes and reads as much as she can.

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Cover image for Room Magazine Issue 49.2, Science. Art by Candace Cosentino of an old-fashioned computer monitor with a bounty of dandelions growing from it.

ROOM 49.2 SCIENCE

I hope this issue makes you curious and furious, leads to 2 a.m. Wikipedia rabbit holes, fulfills urges to seek out knowledge-keepers. Quickly or slowly, dive in: -ologies of all varieties await you.

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ROOM 49.1 No Future for Who?

In Room Magazine 49.1 No Future for Who?, we are really asking. We are coming in hot. We are causing a scene. We are being unreasonable. We are not fucking around. We are not taking “no” for an answer. “No” is the only word we still know. For who? For who? No.

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