Baseline
Caleb Femi
    after "The first Time you hold a gun"

My mother's heartbeat
the first time I heard a baseline.
Then
Her womb, the first room I danced in.
How did it go again?
Kick cloud-soft twirl
stretch
dark gulf
neon on my clay brain.
Kick...Then
the melody drops
& her vocal comes in.

 [VERSE 1]

There will be strife,
burn days, a God
beside me
sex & crueler colors
than the abyss
but there will be this.

(Caleb Femmi is the author of Poor (Penguin, 2020),
 winner of the 2021 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.
He lives in London.)