Once Upon a Time
Gabriel Okara · African poetry — Nigeria · WAEC set text 2026–2030
What it is doing
A father tells his son that people used to smile with their hearts. Now they wear faces for offices and parties. He wants to unlearn the fake laugh and be taught again how to laugh, by the child.
What to listen for
Repetition (“once upon a time”), contrast of then/now, the image of faces in a mirror, irony that the adult must learn from the child.
In the exam
On hypocrisy, colonial/modern manners, and the wish to go back. Quote the “ice-block-cold eyes” and the “searching for a face”.