still life as open casket, still Black & alive

look no.
look at this—
at bat still blessing the plate sinker heavy & I am nailing this adoption,
               edifying eyes resurrected with salt evaporating into the ceiling no.
               spam has never lived here inside this polished body, feisty for

a sequel
a resolve
a flame

               tempering this flux like a black & mild, somewhere between 
               the tide that binds & the tile that breaks. don’t get me wrong                      
                I’m open to celebration, to delay, digest sixteen shots
                as an appetizer & tip the waiter in spite of it all. but I 
                don’t get it.                                                     should I

                                    really dig the somber aisle, the receipts left unread, the rogue carol of I’ll be back soon pump-faking to coerce my heart to jump in this sea of depreciated temporary that seizes when my welcome         ushers in my voice for the potluck. when my welcome ushers in the napkins for the potluck should I stay next time you feed my legacy     a few sides of love & hate, of pain & pain equally abiding in my helium to the hymns we all sing         & levitate levitate levitate

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Olatunde Osinaike is a Nigerian-American poet originally from the West Side of Chicago. An alumnus of Vanderbilt University, his most recent work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Apogee, HEArt Online, Hobart, Glass, Anomaly, and Columbia Poetry Review, among other publications.