Ode to Chirpy Nights

Mar 9

Written By Paperbark Literary Magazine

by Olumide Manuel

the nudest silence

near the creek is

fleshed in crickets

each shrill merges

into the edge of

the closest shrill

& they rumble their metalled

notes to a dull hum that

fills the passerbys' thrill

as the background music

of the dark hours, and

ushers the nightwearers

into the solemn communion—

the moon is out, eat

and drink the cool out

of the riverlet. in this blanket

of a thousand crickets, remain

massaged in its ghostly opera.

Olumide Manuel, NGP IX, is a writer, a biology teacher and an environmentalist. His works have been published on Magma Poetry, Uncanny Magazine, Up The Staircase Quarterly, Trampset, Agbowó Magazine, Isele Magazine and elsewhere.

Paperbark Literary Magazine

Ode to Chirpy Nights

Four Poems

Two Poems