Mother Africa 1973 Poem by Gerald Kithinji

Reflections
Perchance refractions
On mirror of civilization
Unveiling deep furrows-
Nausea of despair!

Ugly shadows of innocence
Haphazard ruins
Harbingers to Africa.

Mother Africa
Unleash black juju
Denounce anaemic gods and
Sing blues to negritude

Dream with Senghor
continental dreams
Dreams individual-
Like Nkrumah
A touristo blackano!
And African huts
Where come rains
To water our negritude
Come clouds
To hide our wrecks, rubble.

Robbed of freehold rights
By mayor and corporation
At slum clearance!

Acclaimed sons and daughters
Of former freedom fighters
In our misery!

Mother Africa
Forget them
Forget atouristo blackano
Behind wrecks
Behind smutty, illicit stuff
Behind oblique natives!

Forget these loud symbols of welfare
Albeit feigned
Symbols of might
Albeit loaned
Symbols of unity
Albeit fictitious
Symbols of friendship abroad…
Forget these things!

They mask the essential you
Distorting your true image
The image truly befitting
Our motherland:
The world’s caustic kaleidoscope!
1973