Wave

BIO:

William J Van Sickell (he/him) is a poet and educator from New Jersey. He is the recipient of the 2022 Walter Glospie Poetry Prize awarded by the Academy of American Poets and New Jersey City University. His work has appeared in publications by WAYE Small Press, Poets.org, and Pratt Institute. William has featured for readings across Hudson County. Along with performing, William has also curated poetry events in collaboration with local staples like Lackawanna Coffee, Greenspace Studios, and Bergenline Productions. In 2020, he co-authored his first collection of poems with Dr. Floyd Jeter entitled 2020 Visions.

The ocean sucks in its gut

For miles

The water is at our ankles

Something’s coming

Higher ground is the coward’s observatory for carnage

The shallow curtain accepts me deeper

I see Death as plaything

My body is the consequence of another man’s dream

This wave is the type to kill many

destroy cities

stretch skin over landfills

While we drink from the puddle of yesterday’s flash flood

Yesterday’s forgotten carcass on our plate

When all other senses evaporate into filthy haze

I will smell this tsunami’s milky smile under syrupy moonlight

And I will rush in to kiss it