Once Upon a Time & Telephone Conversation Name: Parmar Dipali K. Roll No. : 24 Assignment Sem. 4 Email Id: dipaliparmar247@gmail.com Submitted to: The Department of English, MKBU. Once Upon a Time About the Poet: Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara (born April 21, 1921 in Bumodi, Nigeria) is a Nigerian poet and novelist who may be pronounced as highly original and uninfluenced by other poets. He has been extremely successful in apprehending the moods, sights and sounds of Africa. His poems show great sensitivity, perceptive judgements and a tremendous energy. Okara also shows a concern on the topic of what happens when the ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern western culture. Poem: Once Upon a Time Once upon a time, son, they used to laugh with their hearts and laugh with their eyes: but now they only laugh with their teeth, while their ice-block-cold eyes search behind my shadow. There was a time indeed they used to shake han