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let’s all be mad
you told the people of agadaz.

the town has its own vision.
its eyesight is perfect

for destruction. anything
beautiful is misleading.

the riches have rejoined
the sand in its unholy

communion with the desert.
you avoided eating. you feared

the hallucinatory charm buried
in your bowl of garau-garau.

the darkness is alive
in every corner of the town.

it is as evil as humans—
of water, of flesh, and toxic blood.

many years ago,
the king fell on his knees and cried.

the town came for him
and the people rejoiced with it.

in a wind blow,
the town named a new king.

the cycle keeps wheeling.
the madness is coming for you, too.



Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi (Frontier I), a Cave Canem Fellow, is a Nigerian poet, a multidisciplinary artist, and a Medical Laboratory Scientist from Bobi. She is the author of Cadaver of Red Roses  (O, Miami Books, 2024), winner of the 2024 Derricotte/Eady Chapbook Prize, and Uncensored Snapshots (Chestnut Review, 2025). X @ZainabBobi and Instagram @zaynab_iliyasu_bobi.

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19 Jan 2026

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