Chant:

By Chris Abani b. 1967 Chris Abani

It was the hornbill that spoke it.

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new

How does the darkness hide?

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new

The sun is no bigger than a crab.

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new

Hot soup is devoured from the edges.

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new

The blood sign is red; burning like fire.

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new

It has no name; silence is its name.

In the nothing, becoming nothing,

begetting nothing; this is everything.

The world is old, the world is new.

Source: Dog Woman (Red Hen Press, 2004)

Biography

Chris Abani is part of a new generation of Nigerian writers working to convey to an English-speaking audience the experience of those born and raised in that troubled African nation. Abani began writing at a very young age and published his first novel, Masters of the Board, while still a teenager. The plot of the novel, a political thriller, proved uncomfortably close to actual events; it mirrored a coup that was carried out in . . .

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