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Best Poems Written by Njeri Hunjeri

Below are the all-time best Njeri Hunjeri poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

Broken English

I love my broken English

Am in love with my broken English

Am honored to have two other languages

The ability to think from language to language is one that many don't experience 
The ability to bring vibes from one language to another is one, that many envy

Sometimes it's like a train, English flows easily before it gets to a halt
Sometimes it's a bus with many stops, some harsh, some dash, some flash
And some mistakenly whether car or train, crash 
Some like aeroplane, are up there in the air
Building their own castles
Creating unfamiliar words

Whether writing from kikuyu to English 
Or kikuyu to Swahili and then to English 
Or just writing from the little dash of English that I learnt from my English classes,
With poetry,I can still escape 
Whether in the veiled grammatical errors
        Or just like a volatile chameleon

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

Through the Cracks of Dawn

Peeking through
Thin fingers burrow
Anxious eyes follow
For a new gift on a new day

Forgotten heels tremble
Under the seas cold splash
The moonlight a distant ways
Her shadows a mutant ray

Thin sand hide in between toes
Hopeful plans align themselves in rows
Written notes of lessons learned now under a strikethrough spell
Crumbled dreams find themselves somewhere deserted

Light still seeps through
Even when the dark lasts longer than the day

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

My Grandmother's Diary

Cucu, maitu 

Now that am older
I seek more answers 
In the same manner I did 
Those days gone, of fetching firewood to cook a cherished meal
I seek more answers 
Not in the manner I did
Fetching sticks in the forest to be used by teachers for spanking and whipping 
Oh how I dreaded those days, those chilling days of punishments for poor grades, tardiness and noise making
And there my hate for math began....fearing it even to this day
that math teacher that came drunk to class and we mostly got beatings for nothing

I seek answers to understand our family dynamics 
Interesting, odd, sad, puzzling, beautiful, worrying, entertaining,  
Is some of the descriptions 
The reason we are the way we are
The beings we become in unexpected fate

Cucu, maitu 

I've heard your many stories of "emergency" during the colonial rule
I've seen your youthful strength that grows more beautiful with aging days
You always say "it's the Lord"
I remember how when we were little you always got us to wash our feet before getting on your bed
How you then proceeded to pray for your ten children, your many grand children and your ever increasing great grandchildren 
Telling God each of their names
My sisters and I always thought you said some of the longest prayers
But now that am older I know why
The number of family members I have to pray for increases with new age
Like the last video i took of you singing and dancing with some of your great grandchildren, 
The melody of my life becomes more fruitful with each new beat


Cucu, maitu (kikuyu words for grandmother)

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

A Boy and a Vodka

It has taken me two months to write about this

It was me, you and him
All of us in my place 
I was drinking margarita, you and him were drinking vodka 
Eventually you persuaded me to drink some vodka too
We were all in a merry mood, excited and heightened 
You danced a lot that night, you always had your sharp zumba moves to show
At one point you wanted us to flash our boobs, for the boy
I firmly turned down the request because I knew it was wrong 
Girl, you were really drunk

It started as a joke, proceeded to be an argument and eventually it was over 
And the boy just sat there

I remember our first encounter, it was in a library
We loved books so much
We eventually became very close friends 
We spent our spare college times together, inseparable 
At one point we had one scratch in our relationship but eventually all was resolved
We were back again to our giggles and wiggles

Girl, I will always remember your camping stories
      They brought a lot of happy tears to our eyes
Your many travel adventures and the pictures you send
      Through you, I traveled the world 
Your rock climbing tales
Your diverse taste of cuisine, like a cigar it was fancy with a flavorful star
I will always remember the parties we met, they added humor to our lives

I will always remember you, though now gone from my life, I will always thank God for the days we shared

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

The Wedding Cake, a Collaboration With Ian Jones

What a beautiful, romantic day
Most wonderful day of my life
I soak up the sun, every ray
We're going to be husband and wife
The wedding cake's beautiful but where's the knife?
And where's my dad? He should be here
To give me away, oh my, oh dear!

Oh my God! What a Stag Night
I can't quite remember, what did we do?
Why's there a tattoo on my butt on the right?
And why is half my hair blue?
I'm panicking now about what will ensue
When in the shower blue dye starts to disappear
And the girl's name just dissolves from my rear.

I'm loving the stairs on the cake
A three layer
A triple dare
Of a husband number three
My beautiful day, I swirl for the show
Hubby number three won't be free for a while.

Still puzzling, how did I get here?
A triple trouble stands in front of me
The bachelor party a couple of nights ago
I wish I was free again
The knife in the cake crumbles as the sweet cake is savoured.

As the blushing bride I look all around
My brothers and sisters, eyes open wide
They look at the cake and at the groom frown
But they're smacking their lips but not at the bride
The church doors are locked, everyone is inside
When will the service be over, how long will it take?
Before they can get their hands on that cake.

As the blushing groom I nervously look at a sister
The brothers are scowling, her kids just grinning
Don't think you can back out now mister
My fate is sealed, my head is spinning
The priest calls to order, the service beginning
I glance across at the majestic cake
Like Kilimanjaro no knife could it break.

The wedding day rings dancing on the plate
Waiting to be worn on this forever date
The service ends, the wedding bells still ringing
The now wife and husband each having
A million thoughts running
The groom takes a quick glance at his years of single
The bride not holding back on this mingle.

She loving the stairs on the cake
A three layer, a triple dare
Of a husband number three
He is still puzzling, how he got here
The cake demolished to only one crumb
Just like his chances of being free

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

These Hands

Amani the peaceful warrior
A woman who risked her life
To save mothers and daughters from the notorious war crimes
Deep in the jungles of Congo 

The continuing human rights violence
The rape, the discrimination and the children armies 
The non stop crisis that seemed to worsen with each dawn

Amani the peaceful warrior established safety homes for the victims
Through varying trainings the mothers and daughters were taught farming, knitting, cooking, simple medical training, arts and crafts and many more
With counseling she gave back the victims the power they had lost
Their smiles grew, their hearts shone

A rose garden was planted to show this victory
And as the smiles grew, so did it

They heard of Amani and in one of her rescue missions, she was captured
Her hands and legs were tied

He said, "these hands have to go"
To humiliate her and her course
To destroy her and her dreams

But even as she left, her legacy lived beyond the pain and the torture.


*Fictional*

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Runaway Bride

At twelve years old
She sits in the cold
Engulfed by the dark
Sitting on an old tree trunk
By the edge of the silent river

From far she can hear the ceremonial celebrations
Drums beat with such elevation
The women sing in jovial spirits
The kids play and they all dance
Twenty fires burn brightly lighting the village in might

She sits in the cold
Her bare breasts scared
Her beaded necklace tightening
Her innocent fingers trembling
Her eyes dimming with every drum beat

She knows she can't run far
They will find her
And he will marry her
The dowry is already paid
The bed is already made

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People Need People

Even islands get lonely

Like weaving palm leaves to make baskets
Like crocheting to make a pair of socks
       We need each other

The threads that connect us all
The webs that we leave behind
       As we meet each other
       As we befriend each other
       As we spend bits of time with each other
       As we are there for each other
Add us years, that hold us dear

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

Zebra Crossing

One by one
          We follow each other 
Come humps and bumps in life
          We jump them all
Sometimes with slips and falls
Sometimes we are stranded
Sometimes we are waiting 
   But most times we are crossing

Details | Njeri Hunjeri Poem

The Unbearable Call

She calls and calls to me she cries
I hear her I hear her and for that am daring
For a friend and an enemy she has become
That soft kiss on my forehead
The phantom curse of our passion

How is it I and her have these conversations 
The late night chats of our sorrows
The innocent depths of our dawn 
By midday we play tug of war
I trying to chase her away
And she holding tight to me

We love and we cry
Sobbing on each other's shoulders
The ink undying 
Fresh with each stroke
The poetry in me 
The poem and the poet