Poetry Corner with Kwesi BISSUE: Cats and Dogs...and Frogs

In the Morning

The ground was wet.
Rain fell heavily from the sky.
It flowed eastward toward the west.

The drains needed cleaning.
Finally, they overflowed with water.
They fed stagnant lakes nearby.
The lakes fed flowing rivers.
The rivers flowed into the ocean, deepening sorrow.

When Night Turned to Day

Flooding filled alleyways.
People moved where they shouldn’t have been.
Walls crumbled and fell apart.

Rooms flooded above waist height.
Men lifted their suits above water.
Women praised chickens for escaping to safety.
Children wore wrong boots and left school behind.

When Day Hit the Streets

Streets were submerged in water.
They struggled under floating debris.
Old holes became new dams and graves.
Tar peeled away, revealing dust beneath.

“From dust you were born, to dust you shall return.”

When Day Reached Offices

Offices had empty desks and files.
Cubicles sat silent behind closed doors.

Parking lots remained vacant, too quiet to notice.

When Day Ended at the Graveyard

New arrivals came before their funerals.
They had swum with the current alone,
While Nadmo stayed absent and silent.

When Night Returned

Night brought back nightmares for all to see.
Who wasn’t scared? Reality was frightening!

No one expected rain anymore;
Everyone prayed for it to stop—
To stop scaring cats, dogs, and frogs.

Oh! This has been true since 1900.