Dear Kasama
I draft this, dear kasama, against
fish-hooks of hope. I draft against
slow elimination. I draft from soft
interior of riot. I draft syllables of
known sadness, such knowing,
such evidence, such kitchen table
phenomenology of you reading this,
of this reading you—on a rainy
morning, I see you in a blue mask
& black hoodie delivering bags
of groceries at the doorstep. I draft
from collected stillness, restless ghosts
archived in my veins. Consider this
an intimate poetics of rage. Consider
this rage divine refusal. Let us talk
about such refusal. Let us talk about
such dysregulation of promise. Let
us talk about how much I miss you.
Copyright © 2023 by Jason Magabo Perez. An earlier version of this poem first appeared in Kalfou: Journal of Comparative and Relational Ethnic Studies, Volume 8, Issues 1 and 2 (Spring and Fall 2021). Used with permission of the author. The phrase “fish-hooks of hope” is sampled from Aimé Césaire, Return to My Native Land, translated from the French by John Berger and Anna Bostock (Archipelago Books, 2013).