SACRIFICIAL PRAYER

by Olugbenga Ayodeji Ayo-Daniel

Upon the dirty, crinkled faces 

of the old familiar gods,

I pour libation. 

May I be liberated 

from unnecessary incapability?

On the akiitan,

my graceful stand.

Here I speak my nightmare

early, before the dawn of morning. 

As the garbage forgotten here,

so I return home without my nightmare.

It’s the head of a fish

that leads it out of water.

The head of snake 

make way amongst thorny bushes.

May my own head be propitious 

like that of the immaculate egret.

Unseen as water 

finds its way into the coconut,

so will my ways be hidden

from my impatient enemies.

May they come impuissant 

in their strength and 

innocuous in their passion.

Onto the cardinals

of this monstrous earth

bespeak I my supplications,

and from its roominess plead I 

answers to my prayers.

*akiitan – a dump; rubbish heap

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Ayo-Daniel O. Ayodeji is a writer, playwright, and poet born in Lagos, Nigeria. He is a prolific writer of several genres, including contemporary and literary fiction. His lifelong penchant for the literary world was accented and explored in the literary coterie of Association of Nigeria Authors. He is also the editor of Reporterscorp Newsly, an online news magazine. One of his most recent works, “The First Day Ticket,” was published this year in the “Sink or Swim” anthology.