Pelagial Affinity
The sun coruscates through pellucid water.
In pelagic nearness, waves falter to our feet,
and you zest.
You prance the littoral spread.
You, in a teal windbreaker, break the width
of gales.
You pick up conches, pick me up where I lie defying
belligerent glints of sun, and smother my face with
spontaneous kisses.
We raise the effervescent content of our glasses,
exchange our flip-flops in their resplendent hues.
I’m made possible by your perennial love;
that daunting extension of adherence.
In this coastal encounter,
the sea is sprawled endlessly before our existence—
we stand before it, until we suffice.
Convalescence
We robbed the disease of its nefarious glory.
Our triumph was commemorated in ululation.
In the clamor of surviving, our eyes opened
and we sought to hide from the world.
Revelry in this dank now:
The night, femur-long.
Suds overwhelm the vitreous inventions
of man. Our voices levitate without
wings; and to what extent do we hold this zeal,
to deride the conviction of dawn?
We chose to be in delirium.
Preferred our jejune plight.
The sex, good.
Better though,
the staggering force of love’s righteous gravity.
Kei Vough Korede (he/they) is a bi/queer Nigerian poet. He has works published with Woodward Review, among others. Reach him on Twitter @KayVough.
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