Running your hand through a stream, a little crustacean attaches itselfto your fingertip.It punctures you where perception stops and doesn’t hurt. No yell, justlittle trove of delight to feel this lifeform clinging to you.Sometimes grief — many-petaled, in the reproductive season, hot —cowers, removes its shell, briefly, and you see it, too, is simply a case ofmisplaced vulnerability.In its vibration, we, ourselves, are seen. To love what you cannot see orto see what you cannot love? Which is your problem?What is at the precipice of naming has overstayed inside you,somersaulting in the late hours, the infinite skeletal choreography of therepressed. Its implosion, its tape.Every face hides inside it the decision to live. At a hilltop, you knot yourhands behind your back, not with a string, but with a mind.The grass pelts your face as you roll down the hillside, the velocity ofrecklessness. The beautiful daises trampled, being pushed down deeper,deeper on the pyramid of unfair composition.
Crustacean
Feature Date
Series
Selected By
Share This Poem
Print This Poem
Copyright © 2024 by Oluwaseun Olayiwola.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Oluwaseun (Seun) Olayiwola is a poet, critic, choreographer and performer based in London. His choreographic work has been presented at the V&A, The Place, The Central School of Ballet, and Studio Voltaire. He’s been commissioned by Ledbury Poetry Festival, Southwark Council, Studio 3 Arts. His creative and critical work has been published in: The Guardian, The Poetry Review, PN Review, Oxford Poetry, the Telegraph, the Times Literary supplement and elsewhere. Seun has a MFA in Choreography from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he was a Fulbright Scholar in 2018-2019. His debut collection will be published in January 2025 with Soft Skull Press (US) and Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK).
108
London
England
Poetry Editor
André Naffis-Sahely
Reviews Editor
Isabelle Baafi
Poetry London is an arts charity and leading international poetry magazine where acclaimed contemporary poets share pages with exciting new names. Published three times a year in February, May and September, each issue contains new poetry, incisive reviews and features. Poetry London holds an annual poetry competition and launches each issue with readings from distinguished poet contributors to the magazine.
“Its eclectic international editorial vision makes Poetry London one of the very few best, essential poetry magazines in English.”
—Stephen Berg, Editor, The American Poetry Review
“Poetry London has long been essential reading. Try imagining contemporary poetry without it.”
—Sean O’Brien
“Poetry London spreads its net wide to include the latest from Europe, American and other parts of the world, as well as from the islands of Britain and Ireland: work by new poets and established ones. The reviews are intelligent and articulate. The design is simple and accessible. In other words, it’s one of the best poetry magazines around.”
—Ciaran Carson
Poetry Daily Depends on You
With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.
