Litany for the Nearly Damned

By Precious Chidera Harrison

I pray, Lord, keep me away from the road,
when next it sings its own song dripping wet
with the language of silence and exits.
Keep me safe when next death lies in wait
to punctuate the road with mangled bodies
and vehicles disfigured to craps of metal.
Keep me safe when next death crouches
to tear lives apart to frittering full stops,
to crumple bodies into a crowd of commas.
Keep me safe when next death reaches out
to snort voices like snuff, leaving the faces
of corpses contorted into question marks.
Lord, I pray that you keep me safe when next
death comes to shred voices into whits like
ellipses tapering into the maw of a wormhole.
Keep me safe when next the road lies in ambush,
wearing its thirst for blood like a surname.


Writer’s Biography
Precious Chidera Harrison is a Nigerian writer and artist. His poetry explores themes such as love, memory, and existentialism. He was an honorable mention in the inaugural Rhonda Gail Williford Prize. His poems have been published in Arts Lounge, NWF Journal, Brittle Paper, and FERAL.