Wafula p'Khisa Poems

There had been a Great Depression-
worse than what nearly mowed America down in the wake of 1930s
MAN had eaten man to the bone
and the latter erred, attempting to restore order distorted
...

Once there was a loose-tongued man on this staff
Who scattered secrets to unauthorized ears like grains to fowls
He must have been bred in the wild
where manners aren't on the menu of the moral diet
...

a time shall come, like ages before
when these deserted villages will burst into laughter
every prodigal would return on a colourful motorcade, singing redemption anew
with lots of bloody gifts, to buy our trust and cool our temper.
...

a girl, blinded by darkness of naivety, smiles back
at every creature behind tinted windows of hired wheels
until she follows him to bed to realize how beastly he is
He'd have already broken her leg when he pulls out.
...

The sun stares at us with malice
Striving for a safer ground under the trappings of its crimson light
We've just been birthed by the past into the present's tender hands
But the future keeps beckoning us, even before we could grow a tooth
...

if indeed Barrow could stick to his dream
and pull old Jammeh's smelly foot out of Gambia's golden boot
after Goodluck had left Nigeria for Buhari smiling
and Ouattara, Macky Sall and Patrice Talon had unseated powerholics in the West;
...

There was a moth feasting on the contents of our head
making the trunk to sway backwards
The smartest brains on the compound hid in the shadow of silence
to waste time on none- issues like soccer and sportpesa
...

a man doesn't dance twice in the arena
no matter how best he folds his limbs & wriggles his body
to follow the rhythm of the drum.
when nightfall comes, and the drum threatens to tear our ears;
...

after this we could sing only one song: cease fire
as fiery tongues open fresh wounds of hatred in our hearts
we'd have moved many worlds beyond
and the desperate longing for home marred by poignant memories.
...

Every time I watch the sun set
I pray it rests with your tears
but the shadow of darkness it casts behind
leaves no room for the moon to wave it's hand of light
...