Chris Abani is a storyteller known for bringing the heart of Africa into his narratives. Born in Nigeria, he published his first novel, Masters of the Board, at the age of sixteen and was thrown into prison for it. He turned his jail experiences into poems that Harold Pinter called “the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable.” Among his best-selling novels are The Virgin of Flames and GraceLand, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Abani is a Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University and lives in Chicago.

Four Poems

by Chris Abani

Fruit

A full moon leaning on a skyscraper. The taste:
qat and sweets on a tropical afternoon.
The dog’s black tongue was more terrifying than its teeth.
The gravestone rising out of the puddle was more sinister
than the body we discovered as children swinging
in the summer hot orchard.

People on couch
To continue reading please sign in.
Join for free
Already a reader? Sign In