Friday
High in the morning sky, bats
row their furs. Scattered
all over, as though pages
of divorce papers released from
the incinerator, in the eyrie beyond.
I have learnt not to trust the
gullibility of any smartphone
yet, I cannot resist the spell
of its pixel density.
I cannot resist the urge to ask
if you know what day of the week it is.
You need to clip your fingernails
& shave your armpits.
Do you still shake the hands of strangers
telling them Juma’at Mubarak*?
Do you still hear the cock crows
after the muezzins have call to prayers?
***
*greetings Muslims say to themselves, on Fridays.
Hussain Ahmed is a Nigerian writer and environmentalist. His poems are featured or forthcoming in Public Pool, Shot Glass Journal, HEArt Online Journal, Kalahari Review, and elsewhere. He tweets at @hussyainy.