Alarm of Terror
Bliss, a dishrag
adorning the loin
of my country.
Canaries no longer
chirp serenades but elegies.
Elegies, caplets imposed
to be taken twice daily
for a healthy malady,
two in the morning,
a quick reminder of the terror
that lurks in the throat of dawn,
four at night,
an honest alarm of the horror
to expect in your sleep,
to embrace, at dawn
when missiles crow.
Abdulmueed Balogun is a Nigerian Poet and an undergraduate at the University of Ibadan. He was selected to participate as a Scholar in the HUES Poetry Workshop for Spring 2021. He is a poetry reader at The Global Youth Review and was the runner up in the REFORM NAIJA writing contest "FREEWILL" November, 2020. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in: Avalon Literary Review, Subnivean, AfroRep, Poesis Literary Journal, Fevers of Mind and elsewhere.
Other Works
Pale Fires I
by GTimothy Gordon
... under ubiquitous blue moon, over outback, / too, where no beautiful thing shines ...
OUT WEST
by Dana Guth
... There is a peepshow / at the center / of every grapefruit ...