Cisse olaniyi
@olaniyicisse7336
1 month ago

I know this city by its mornings first -
the scrape of a metal gate
before the rooster coughs.

By the splash of water
from a bucket at dawn,
a mother’s soft curse
at the stubborn tap.

This map lives in the throat.
Not street signs, not coordinates,
but the way a woman sings
“mandazi, madafu, chai”
as the sun splits the horizon.

You learn direction by sound.
The call to prayer from the east,
a taxi horn honking twice for a fare,
the dull thud of a matatu door
slamming shut at the junction.

If you listen closely enough,
you can hear the city breathe -
a low hum at midday
like a sleeping giant.

The market is a drum circle.
Yam sellers, fish wives, spice men -
their voices weave a rhythm
you can follow blindfolded.
A laugh here, a bargain there,
the clink of coins in a wooden box.

Even the silence has weight.
The hours after midnight
when only the night guard’s radio crackles,
a far-off dog, a woman’s heel
clicking on concrete.

I have walked this city blind,
my ears mapping every curve and corner.
The bell of the bicycle vendor,
the honk of the boda boda,
the laughter of children playing football
in a dusty field at dusk.

This is not a map you can fold.
It lives in the memory of sound -
a score written in the calls of a thousand voices,
the rhythm of feet on red earth,
the pulse of a place that never sleeps.

#Poetry #poemlovers #modelingonnircle #globaltravel #easternugandatravel #veganlifestyle #ugandabusinesstravel #creativenairobi #HelloNircle #mapofsound #citybreaths

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