LA DOLCE VITA

So here we are
in this place so famed
along East Genesee
La Dolce Vita it is

acting like life
is truly sweet
yet our minds float and swirl
in whirlwinds of uncertainty

we sit side by side,
still,
stolen glances
and cocktail glasses
our singular companions

this is crazy!
didnt we drive together
to this place so grand
me on the wheels
and you?
my gorgeous passenger

so we must speak our minds
before the night consumes us
and we fail
to consummate this thing, tonight!

©August 2010

CEASEFIRE

We,
You and i
for far too long
have danced around the fires
that fed the cacophonous crowd
of 'friendly' cheerleaders

Now we stand or sit or squat
separated
here and there in these
   indeterminate spaces

The vultures must now stand down
spent spectators in this game of lust
and us?
we must gaze across the dying flames
       and lick our smothered
but shared soul

Admittedly
we both lie prostrate
exhausted and consumed by this duel
   of strong egos
And pride!
pride that congests our rational faculties
tearing us apart
splintered into smithereens
  of micro-pieces of humanity

Tell me
did you know
like i do now
that though the flame may burn low
though the light may dim
as it will sometimes,
the heat and warmth of us will never fail?

We must now a ceasefire call
our eyes to meet
our hearts to embrace in renewed vigour

Expunge the bile of betrayal
         bile of mistrust
         bile of vengeance
vengeance that kept us warm at night

We must now a ceasefire call
our eyes to meet
our hearts to embrace in renewed vigour

© July 2010

PRETTY WINGS

Love withers
in the scorching heat
of insatiable materialism
big cars
grandiose lifestyles
conspicuous consumption
and talk of 'Missions' hold sway
in the persistent search for success

their dominion the key
that flings open
hitherto hesitant hearts
their allure
the fountain that whets expectant thighs

aah!
like the rhetoric of morality
the fleeting aroma of wealth
now stands universal
inconveniently juxtaposed
with scavenger horns
as emblems of actualization

'love is not enough'
she said 

we are a generation of exuberance
love of money endures
in this our bleeding breed of greed

we are but a riotous generation
propelled by endless insufficiencies
and endless rationings
rationings of power
of responsibility
of opportunity
rationings too of morality

Which way shall we turn
when love. alone. is not enough

© July 2010

AFRICA LIBERATION DAY

A few not so ordinary folks
Got busy hanging out
With ‘watu wa kawaida’
In a place as ‘un-kawaida-like’
As Nairobi Safari Club

Big names
A kaleidoscopic mix
Of humanity and every nobody
In pursuit of somebodiness is here
Committed spirits
And invocations of ‘–isms’ reign supreme
Isms of coloniality, of race, of tribe etc
All but the ‘-ism’ of sex feature

Aah!
What a double-speak on liberation
And justice
Equality and camaraderie

And so a fine sister is choked
By tentacles of homophobia
       and deformed masculinities
Clothed as patriotism, religiosity, and ‘africanity’

Sadly,
I must leave
For in the spirit of Ubuntu
I too suffocate

© July 2010

KWAHERI-NI

Nazunguka hata napaa
Huku na kule nakaa
Nikiwaaga marafiki
Wajane waso manafiki
Warembo wa vitendo
Na mayatima wa kiakademia
Wao watakaosalia nanga ning'oapo

New York mjini hakunitoshi
Atlantic City mradi nielekee
Ila tu maCasino siingii
Itanikoma basi nauli
Kwani 'Ujaluoni' nako hakusalii kamwe
Washington DC kuingia
Kaka Barry kumgotea basi ni lazima

Kwaheri na makumbatio
Machozi na mate ya tamati
       yote siyapendi
Duniya tu ni barabara bali
Maisha hii kweli i safari

Mwendo wa kasi hapo awali
Sasa keshaingia tamati
Kujikokota tena siwezi
Ila bado fursa sipati

Na kusindikizwa kwa ajabu
Kweli raha ama huku tena hawanitaki
Mahenge tuandamane hadi Dubai
Daudi Nairobi ndiyo kikomo

Mtasemaje mlosema sitarudi?