CORPSOCRACY - Precious Chidera Harrison

It seems the head has fallen away

and the neck kept the secret,

the shoulders can no longer bear the burden

and the heart feels like it's about to break.

Our bellies filled with so much emptiness

our ears deafened by our own plight,

slowly every part pulls away;

everything falls apart.

The blood trickles,

deluging down the districts

our eyes dazed; our minds puzzled,

our emaciated bones shivering

teeth gnashing,

vision bleary.

with weakened knees,

kneeling on the pavement

with tendrilled limbs,

wrapped around our necks

in attempted suicide.

Split throat; with bloodied hands

we fall, half dead

into the pull of our own blood.

yet amidst such great catastrophe

our lips only murmur

our hands too frail to act

our minds too skeptical

to choose between truth and facts—

We are left at the mercy of our fate.

Originally published by POEMIFY MAGAZINE, late March, 2022

Precious Chidera Harrison is a Nigerian poet born and raised in Port Harcourt. He is the winner of the poetry category of the maiden edition of the Pawners Paper Poetry Contest, 2024. He was a honorable mention in the inaugural Rhonda Gail Williford Prize, 2023. His debut chapbook manuscript was longlisted for the Arting Arena Poetry Chapbook Manuscript Prize, 2023. His writings have appeared or are forthcoming in Arts Lounge, Hot Pot Magazine, NWF Journal, Brittle Paper, FERAL Journal, World Voices Magazine and SprinNG Journal.