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Time loop for the day I die.

                
At an open bar in Sarkin Pawa
the night was flourishing to Burna Boy’s las las.
Our bodies were getting drowned in our beers;
the bandits have invaded and conquered Sharp-Kona.
Some voice drunken in the music tells us to run.
something hit a man dancing to the music;
Some say it was the music, but we knew it was a bullet
in our attempt to run, a bullet,
through my head opened a door,
death with its warm hands held me and I walked through
In the opening of morning, a bullet,
through my head opened a door,
death with its warm hands held me and I walked through
At the meadow of sunflowers, a bullet,
through my head opened a door,
death with its warm hands held me and I walked through
In the heatless afternoon, a bullet,
through my head opened a door,
death with its warm hands held me and I walked through
At my 1000th birthday party, a bullet,
through my head opened a door,
 death with its warm hands held me and I walked through
At an open bar in Sarkin Pawa, a bullet,
 through my head opened a door,
death with its warm hands held me and I refused and
 I refused and I refused and in my refusal the door closed
And the door closed and I opened,      soft as a yawn and
I opened magnificent as light.
                
(Editors’ Note: “Time loop for the day I die.” is read by Matt Peters on the Uncanny Magazine Podcast, Episode 63B.)

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Abdulrazaq Salihu

Abdulrazaq Salihu

Abdulrazaq Salihu, TPC I, is a Nigerian writer and performance poet. A member of the hilltop creative arts foundation, he has received residency from IWE Nigeria, Frances Thompson Writers studio, and is a 2025 Fellow at the LOATAD Black Atlantis. He won the Masks Poetry Award, LAP performance poetry prize, SOD, BKPW, and poetry archive contest. He’s the author of “Constellations” and “Hiccups” and has his chapbook Quantum entanglements with notes on loss forthcoming with Sundress Publication 2025. He has works published/forthcoming with Uncanny, Bacopa Mag, Strange Horizons, Stachion, Consequence, SofloPojo, Bracken, Poetry Quarterly, and elsewhere. He tweets @Arazaqsalihu and Instagram @abdulrazaq._salihu.