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a city announces dawn with the heartbeats of engines,
prayers from the megaphones of churches, the lull of
the muezzin, a blended medley, a chaos, a breathing,
a film of forward existence. But the artist never miss-
es to catch the anima of the first brushstrokes of day-
light, or the remnants of what this place still reminds
of a morning in the country; the quiet waking, the pr-
ayer of birds, fresher drafts of air, or the solitary tapp-
er who greets his customer good morning with a keg.
or the one who has caught a grasscutter, or the boys
who string crickets like beads—this is not a poem ab-
out daffodils, but you know what I mean. The old Italian
sang bella ciao to reject a fascist government, Una mattina
mi son svegliato. I woke one morning and found the inva-
der. I see death calling. If I die fighting for freedom, lay
me on the mountain under the shade of a beautiful tree.
“An Answer to the Rule to Write a Poem of 16 Lines on ‘Why Poetry’ ” won second place in the Eriata Oribhabor Prize for Poetry 2023.
Carl Terver has a BA English from Benue State University, Makurdi. An essayist, editor, poet, and a style critic, his work has appeared in The Republic, Olongo Africa, The Stockholm Review, The Shallow Tales Review, Iskanchi, and Za!, among others. He is the Digital Editions Editor at Konya Shamsrumi; the founding editor of Afapinen; and author of the chapbook For Girl at Rubicon.
Afapinen 