O defender of edges & sultan of
shape-ups thank you for your flutters
on napes of necks & the way in which
you hold me nightly you serpent slick
& sovereign still you an oil spill straddling whirling
waters won’t you come into the day though
rampant biases & clutched pocketbooks prevail
you are more than roughneck gift wrap you
Head of Sparkle Security ensuring embers glimmer
when sun-kissed keeping ends wed O pop-of-color
what would thirsty Thursdays be without you a ghetto
dreamcatcher under my fitted warding ghosts
& their longings away from the bar O Beloved
drape me drip me into drowning sanctify my head
a monument to Olokun’s waters & to the ancestors
still sinking & I will rock you all the seasons of my length
from bald fade to baby fro to thinning until this
mortal frame hums no longer as stated in my will
you the sole value of my estate shall descend
to my shorty & he will carry us
on