stop praying

stop praying

and make your bed if there’s one

stop praying

and sweep the ground you step on

stop praying

and till the land

and grow foods for you and strangers

stop praying

and check on your neighbor

and play with them

and share stories with them

and meals and drinks

and tease them to smile and to laugh often

stop praying

and listen to the birds: their chatter and songs and dirges

stop praying

and help someone cross the road

stop praying

and play with a child and protect them from all harm and abuse

stop praying and be kind to a stranger

stop praying and visit sick earthlings

and wish them well

stop praying

and run for public office

and evict murderers and thieves and bigots from power

stop praying

and protest and depose despots

and all their armies that damn you to artificial misery

stop praying

and seize the land from colonizers and their brokers

stop praying and be deeply in love with yourself and your lover

stop praying

and leave a lover alone when they turn idiot

stop praying if you be the idiot in relationships and fix your diabolical self quietly and earnestly

stop praying

and use your voice and hands to haunt and hound bullies everywhere

stop praying

and rob billionaires on sight for y(our)reparations and climate justice

stop praying

and free yourself from nonsensical mumblings and incantations to purported deities

stop praying

and do what you must to abolish all hells on earth and they are many

stop praying

and take back heaven from capitalism with its robed men and sedating big alleged holy books

stop praying

and start living before you die another one thousand times

– nduko

(dakar & nairobi, october 2026)