From the September Quartet

from the September Quartet Obi Nwakanma (bio) iii I live among the poor in spirit – thedying – among the meek, theinheritors of the earth: I livewith my neighbour, the fishseller,possessed by the song: I live with the wounded,the dispossessed; those aching for freedom,bound in spirit by too much love: I live with thefisherman, who ploughs the water, the mist upon hisheels, arriving before the light is glimpsed through thedark curtain, with seashells and the captive shrug;with the nightwatch coming home, whistling in hisbreath, the secret of the night cut deep into his mind: I live with the chuckle of twilight, onthe putrescent street: the aching thresholdquaking with laughter – Here, where the shore receded at twelve o'clock,and the barges decaying but like some ancient stigma, and theneighborhood urchins plying its bowel, diving for a coin – Above, the sun is an inexorable curse,like a talisman in the sky;the mild echo of the secret mason, erecting apyramid – amid the bloom of marigold, a September thrush,quickening the earth: it is among these that I live –among the inconstant flux, the coconut smell,the thatched synagogues, the swollen hands of Godgathering the faithful [End Page 480] Obi Nwakanma Obi Nwakanma, a native of Nigeria, was educated at the prestigious Government College Umuahia, the University of Jos (Nigeria), and Washington University in St. Louis. The Roped Urn, his first collection of poems, was awarded Nigeria's ANA/Cadbury Prize for Poetry in 1996. Copyright © 2008 Charles H. Rowell

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