Response to Pablo Neruda’s ‘The Potter’

a fullness destined for me
is what you wear as
your whole body.
the brown that sits
in your eyes like the mix
of rainfall and clay soil
like a touch of milk in coffee
the fish-like smoothness
of your skin, the warmth
i am all hard like wax
in cold water
as soon as you put
my name on your tongue
indeed, we are single
like a single grain of sand.

Victor Oyedele