Jide Badmus

Driver

the road is
full of mouths
& everything is
out to eat you.

stuck in the
jaws of traffic,
thirsty—a cold
bottle of water
sells for double
its normal price
on the long bridge.

engine overheats.
you still need the
overpriced water
for the radiator.

& when you think
you have broken
free of traffic,
police palms open
—like tithe bags—
on potholed altars.

the road is
full of mouths
& everything is
out to eat you.

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Jide Badmus is an electrical engineer, a poet inspired by beauty and destruction; he believes that things in ruins were once beautiful. He is the author of There is a Storm in my Head, Scripture and Paper Planes in the Rain; curator of Vowels Under Duress; Coffee; and Today, I Choose Joy anthologies.