Manuel Odeny

You nag:
"lover, honey
my heart I gave thee
how dare you break it?
...

This concrete jungle
striking, confusing
with a dearth of appeal
like a doodle,
...

Love nestles tenderly, delicately
in your arms, warmly
tickling emotions with light feathers
surely
...

The night is getting wearier
shadows getting dreadier
sun rays hugging horizon, hungrier
darkens envelopes
...

I hear you call me,
gently
amid the rustling leaves
silently
...

Please smile
For it costs nothing but creates much
Your smile is rest when I'm weary
The daylight when discouraged
...

I slipped
I felled
and never regained my balance
I grouped frantically for something to save me
...

hey love
just a warm smile, an assurance you are mine
embrace me for loneliness to ease
a hot calabash of uji*' for my soul to soothe
...

Heaven Through Hell

Pardon my retched soul,
in book of in life
...

Do you know the hardest part?
When you’ve been through hell
and back?
It isn’t the yowls of wretched souls,
...

A cold misty morning- a thought of prayer
He shakes sleep from him eyes, cold from him marrows
Dusty-torned-dog eared bible,
Hustled, dust slapped
...

Once
when I was still a baby boy
obsessed, thrilled with dark night sky
father said, shut your eyes tightly
...

Sometimes I write
because mine is a face
that dreamt a thousand dreams
captured in a thousand-and-one words
...