Due Diligence
to claim history is some sort of weathered
joke is to say this is a déjà vu in which i am not unlucky,
stratagem just sacrilege enough & always
has been since the last best war
in the budget, always has been the grime on the leftmost
machine in the laundromat, there’s bleach as veneer
everywhere & the worn porcelain floor shines like a hazard should
in this case, the proprietor tells me to be
careful, a tip which is only the half of it
\\
of the other half
all i have to do is watch my step –
order my durable in whatever
word that will have me –
which is good since my bones
know this routine know i’ve been reduced
caricature by caricature
cracked over easy know how
i wished myself exempt all last year:
every word is opportunity for revision
or derision, just depends
on how you’d like
to press your lips to foment, what more
can you make of a mouth
\\
even without an incentive,
my body is light enough
to be flammable & flame enough
to wash away the night
of what is left
all that i am is a tear without scent,
some oxygen but mostly time
& this is what keeps me guessing
& it’s not like we haven’t been here before
i can make a handle out of anything
including my tongue
but this is not to say
i can twist the heat
into some sane covenant
\\
let me begin once more
between two-way traffic
in the hood staring at the vending machine
through the rain-stained window
foot over a misplaced penny
& the tv humming in devotion
what i mean is we all have the need
to start again the sky for tomorrow
what i mean is i just left
the family dollar across the street
nine minutes later with a mop
that only cost me seventy cents & some empathy
with a caloric sense of humor
\\
so say next
say the heart knows what it wants
say leverage
say disaster is natural again
but also say how dirty our skin isn’t
& the water isn’t washing
the way we’ve come to expect
say the floor isn’t clean yet
say i paid for this
say i paid for this
Olatunde Osinaike is a Nigerian-American poet originally from the West Side of Chicago. He is Black, still learning and eager nevertheless. An alumnus of Vanderbilt University, his most recent work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Apogee, HEArt, Hobart, FreezeRay, Glass, Up the Staircase, and Split Lip, among other publications.