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James Mwando Poem
Miss palm is gracious
She glitters like glossed sequin
On a gay night
With a little fragrance
She would be fairly like
Her five daughters are
Idiosyncratic characters
Sent from above to show we mortals
What's beauty
And together: The darling daring palm family
Like a shadow on a sunny day
My companions
In the park, on the street
even in the dark of the night
But be wary of Miss palm
and her five daughters!
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
…to the dogs
He stared at the damp chilly night
and marveled in frustration
seeing nothing at all -
except the black night
So many years ruined dancing to the same tune
days and night overlapping into an endless timeless space
Indigence, parched throats, empty ragged pockets…
guns persist as unflawed blood flows into the filthy cesspools
maggie dogs, scavenger, urchins all blend into one
all in a split race for the a place in the bins
At first light
blurred images flash past his eyes
cheese and butter, wines, champagne, music and festivals
laughter and smiles
- the taste of a gone era
Flashy cars with tinted windows speed by
on the highway
towards the glass towers and
the affluence beyond the mind’s eyes
Numerous gaps along the road
shattered dreams, tattered bridges
dyed-in -the-wool banal lip services
Shame!
A curse from the bowels of the earth or
is it a monster
from our flesh and bones
or both?
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
Black Friday
The earth shock with fury as we walked
for a fleeting moment nothing moved ….
… then
glasses flew from space
screams filled the calm morning
escalating to unbelievable decibels
tearing all into tatters …
I watched the sky for an array of angels
but the bellowing black smoke veiled the sky
coaxing my ears for the final flutes in the myriad noise
imagination gave way to reality as
walls caved into dust before our very own eyes
Arms and limbs parted company
never to be one again
daylight miscarriage a premature night
frustrated souls started their untimely journey
“from ash to ash,
from soil to soil, ....
till we meet again...,;
Torrential tears flowed down the bridgeless rivers
naked hearts trembled like reed grass
On a chilly Friday morning.
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
… it pours.
The orange horizon embraced the sun tenderly
The wind groaned in disgust
Dashing into the swaying forest to put-up for the night
Puffing clouds chased each other up the sky
Screaming and flashing cruel rapiers
Piercing the sky heartlessly in their rant
All of a sudden
The sky wept
Tears of anger,
Vented for ages
And nothing was the same again that has been
created.
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
The mid-morning traffic drowned his desperate plea
Pushing it into a perpetual abyss
The streetlights turned green
And for a minute, all was quite
“Nipe Shilingi!”
She shouted for the millionth time that day
He fished deep in his pockets
Found one, aimed at the bowl and oops!
He missed
The copper coin landed on the tarmac with a bang
Rolled severally, and
Finally found a resting place in the filthy gutter
She watched the unfolding action in horror
Finally, she crawled towards the grime
With naked hands, she prodded in vain
As tears started to roll down her cheeks
The grandfather clock across the street
struck noon!
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
SHADOWS
Actors on a dimly lit stage...
SCENE 1:
dead-eyed audience
whispers behind the black curtains
plastics smiles
reluctant hands
chained feet
pouted lips ...
SCENE 2:
... arctic hors d'oeuvre
copious food
wines, beers - pride Irish!
trivial tattles
inebriated
blank heads...
SCENE 3:
... crawl upstairs
darkness, touch and feel
snores, toss and turn, toss and turn …
cock craw
morning …
a vicious circle
SCENE 4:
cold eyes bores to sky ...
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
BROKEN GLASSES
Horns blared
As the human traffic clawed at snail pace
T'is was another ordinary evening in the city
Hurriedly, he walked in the dark alleyway
Avoiding the rushing shadows
His breathe returned as he joined the main street
Suddenly he turned and gazed at the cafe's window
He couldn't make out the pallid face
Furrowed with deep ridges
The eyes defined it all!
In rage he shattered the window with all his might
Scattered pieces of glass lay on the grubby pavement
Each reflecting its own reality
Around the same orbit -
- DEATH!
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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James Mwando Poem
For the umpteenth time
the sun burned
and barked the earth dry
Trees stood bare like skeletons
Far away, the river moved slowly along its banks
the vultures flew low and high
surveying the scene below
heaps upon stacks
a hyena's feast
copious of it
it's a joyous festival
The staccato sound of the laughing guns
Jerky jerkily ….
reigns on the land
Thirsty for blood
and flesh too…
Across the seas
on the telly
the scene captured and splashed
for the stone-cold eyes
on dinner tables
drinking champagne
Cheers!
as they celebrate
the birth of another child of a slave
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2013
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James Mwando Poem
for the second time in a row
I arrived home late in the morning
I looked at the watch
- 2 a.m. in the morning!
I looked at my sleepy wife but didn’t
know what to say
so I told her a lie...
.. that I wasn’t with Rihanna
that I had been with Nelly
since 2 pm that day
that Nelly was a witch
that she wanted to bewitch me
that I wanted to rape her
that I was cursed
how else could I have been
conceived
if my mother had not been raped?
how did Nelly know
that my mother had been raped?
so I told another lie
that I knew that I was blessed
that one day I will be the president
the president of Kenya
that one day I will walk
free
free from the curse
that one day I will become a preacher
….. by the way did you know that I have a diploma?
a diploma in theology?
I looked at the door and told
my wife to listen for a knock ....
... but there wasn’t a knock except for
a jacket,
a black jacket with a label on the side
a label of the devil
so I told my wife to burn the jacket in the morning
a jacket that I had been given by the devil
the devil who said that I was cursed
so I told her I had to sleep, and when I wake up in the morning
I would tell her a lie,
that it was a dream
a dream, a poem
that I had written ten years ago
in a black book that was now old
a black book that was now gnawed by rats
so she looked for the book in the morning,
the old book that had been gnawed by rats
but
there was no poem
because it wasn’t a dream,
a lie!
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2019
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James Mwando Poem
Labyrinth
Sandwiched between the gray walls
He moaned and groaned
The pain of losing a friend was horrendous
Shadows moved past his eyes
Just like in the movies
He stood and run
One door led to another and to another
and ...
Same wall, like shadows
Time stood still
The everlasting sorrow
The endless pain
He looked back
Nothing changed-
Except the intensifying pain
and … the shape of the shadows
He run
But he was trapped in the countless paths
For eons
He paused to get a new breath of fresh air
But just for a second!
He heard the noises
And started to run ...
Copyright © James Mwando | Year Posted 2012
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