WAVES

by Tobi Kassim

to intuit the widths of my body       begin

from within where sound weaves its creases

into the walls    carries flesh’s sediment

To meet     fresh water

  the tendons of the confluence

       inside me

the undertow’s low wail ascendant

   from  deep water  I crawl all

day with desire     coiled gut

to tongue     waves push

all speech out from my crosscut

center   heavy water wends

under whitecaps   stretches wider

than my capacity         then rises

God is everything   spreads apart

in the water   I wanted voice to ladder

me through unknowing    the dark’s hesitance

to converge     and shifting colors

in the waves

Tobi Kassim was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and has lived in the United States since 2003. His poems have been published or are forthcoming  in the Volta, The Brooklyn Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Kenyon Review, Zocalo Public Square, Four Way Review and elsewhere. His chapbook, Dear Sly Stone, was published by Spiral Editions. Tobi was a 2021 Undocupoets fellow, received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and is an associate poetry editor for West Branch.