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Best Poems Written by James Mwando

Below are the all-time best James Mwando poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | James Mwando Poem

Miss Palm and Her Five Daughters

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!

Details | James Mwando Poem

To the Dogs

…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?

Details | James Mwando Poem

Black Friday

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.

Details | James Mwando Poem

It Pours

… 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.

Details | James Mwando Poem

Broken Glasses

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!

Details | James Mwando Poem

Colossus and Lazarus

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!

Details | James Mwando Poem

Shadows

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 ...

Details | James Mwando Poem

Child of a Slave

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

Details | James Mwando Poem

Labyrinth

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 ...

Details | James Mwando Poem

A Lie To My Wife

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!