Before Sunrise Chores of a Muslim

By Abuoya Eruot

it is fajr—& cock’s crow & frog’s croak &

pigeon’s coo & bat’s screech & mosquito’s buzz

& dog’s bark pervaded everywhere.

 

like my alarm, the muezzin’s cry is never enough

 to get me off my bed;

my mother must pronounce my name, with her neck

covered up with veins, before i would

chase the door like the room was gutted by fire.

 

squatting over a kettle, a mild breeze fed my pores

with so much chills &

tree branches swept corners of the sky & leaves fell,

just as the way a soaring bird hit by gunshots will do

 & dews made love to the elephant grasses

 

as we performed wudu.

 

Abuoya Eruot writes from Paynesville, Liberia. His works have been published in African Writer, Praxis Magazine, Eboquills, Odd Magazine, and elsewhere.