Sunday, 21 January 2018

The Woes Of Long Distance Traveler

Every time I am travelling long distance, which of course is anywhere I can’t get in under three hours by walking, I often rue my forgetfulness. Like how can a sane man forget to pick his car from the show room? Of course I can’t go there now because parking fees have accumulated over time, and now I have to part with millions. This should serve as a polite reminder to people out there: GO GET YOUR CARS BEFORE YOU FACE THE SAME PREDICAMENT AS ME.  In the mean time let me get dirty water splashed in me whenever the angels above squirt incessantly up there. It is a deserved punishment, on top of others that I am about to tell.

From experience passed on by our elders, you may attract unspecified curse if you don board a matatu with RIFT in its name, although people with healthy imaginations have tried to give reasons for our affinity to anything rift. One of them is that other matatu Sacco’s will leave you in the bush. For that matter every time I am travelling I either board Great Rift Shuttle, or North Rift depending on the price of fare. On this particular day, I am in Great Rift Shuttle offices very early. It turns out that there were others who were earlier than me and had occupied all seats except 1x (for those who picked their cars before parking fees skyrocketed, it is the seat between the driver and the other passenger).

Well, for the uninitiated, that seat has rules which no one bothers to tell you.

  1.       That seat is not very friendly for tall people.
  2.        Better avoid that seat if you had too much nocturnal business
  3.        It is advisable to inquire if the driver has a boil on his right buttock, which will force him to sit at an angle close tot you.
  4.       The seat is EXTREMELY OUT OF BOUNDS if 1, 2 and 3 applies to you

And because no one had warned me about the rules which I have generously stated above, I found myself climbing a matatu that had that seat as if it had been reserved for me. Previously I had used that seat without any problems. But not on this journey. I am tall. I am sleepy. The driver seemed to have a boil on his buttock, so he sat way too close to me leaving too much space on the other end. One could get the impression that he was ferrying a ghost on that side. Every time he changed the gear, and he did it way too much, he would knock me in a very unpleasant way. In fact it could be considered illegal. He would knock me back and forth, until we reached somewhere I do not care to remember. The mat gets stopped by cops and all of us are ordered to get out. Apparently the driver had been over speeding. He checked the speed governor like a thousand times with a grimace on his face.

We got out and I had the chance to stretch my tall lanky legs that should have been competition with Rudisha, and not merely talking my brain to the library or other equally useless places. By useless I mean places that people get paid to get there first. I could get the library or class faster than anyone. I am talented in that. No one can beat me in that. My fastness seems to be rewarded in reverse. One time I got to class at six in the morning, only for my laptop to be stolen.

The cops do what they are renowned for. The driver haggles with one who seemed to be the boss. He did not have blue uniform. They both settle for 2k which the driver did not have. He asks me to give him so that he could refund when we got to Nairobi. I flatly refused, not because I did not have but because I wanted to punish him for having a boil on his buttock. Of course we cannot rule out the fact that I did not have the money. Another passenger gave him the money, killing my prayers. I wanted us to be sold to another matatu so that I could take another seat. Prayers are not my thing, I guess that was what god was trying to convey to me.


We proceed with the journey. Thank god I did not lose a body party, although I almost lost my mind. 

Wednesday, 20 December 2017

What more could I ask for?

That smile-your smile- appears to me
Like a well sculpted piece of art
It appears to me
Like God use its specifications
To create the sun
And in His generosity spoke
“Go ye and light his dull world”
And it was so
For you are shining in it, and owning it
What more could I ask for?

That love-your love- appears to me
In the silent throbs of my heart
It appears to me like a gold mine
A whole world of treasure
Treasure that mere mortals seek
And yet to find, a vanity
But you are here…with me… for me
You are my whole world, and you are shining it?

What more could I ask for? 

Saturday, 18 November 2017

THE WANDERING WOMAN

Woman, a wanderer on earth seeking pleasure,
Almost often where there’s none,
May you be condemned to an eternity of solitude….
May your joy be stolen by little things
My your river quench many thirst

Except your own

Smile, and be alive with me

Sit with me on this wasting log
That fell with the drizzle last night
And listen to the thud on my chest
Trying too hard to resist your charms
Smile here, and be alive with me

Forget the fancy restaurants that city girls adore
It’s more fake than their brilliant Brazil hair
forget about the badly brewed brewed coffee
they cost an arm, yet cannot rival mursik
munch on this roasted maize
and be alive with me

stretch out your long lanky legs, stretch my imaginations
smile, reveal those pearly teeth for my dreams
ask me stupid questions, I will not write about them
talk to me about your childhood,
tell me anything, but do not tell me about your former boyfriend
appease my throbbing heart with your eternal bliss

be alive with me 

Wednesday, 30 August 2017

ANOTHER EMPTIER PART

A part of you feels hollow
End to end nothing but a void
Debauchery creeps in
It often finds solace within

You don’t look anyone in the eye
They’d peer into your soul’s lie
And how hard you acting your own life
How long you’ve since ceased living

Another empty part of your grows
As if by magic, ensures you’re bereft
With it you swim to newer lows
And you-you don’t even know when to begin

Not caring 

Friday, 21 July 2017

BETTER YET

Skip the nuance and insinuation
Better yet tell me from the hails
The cradle of your soul; my ails
Stop torturing my imagination

May be if I had oil wells
Or better yet gold mines
May be you wouldn’t think twice
Or better yet not think at all
Of availing that which my heart craves 

Should have a gun
Or better yet a nuclear weapon
For me to earn my respect
May be we’d be buddies


The Heartbreak

The wind, having encountered little resistance from the card board reinforced wall, blew with vengeance, permeating straight into his bones. It manifested itself in the clattering of teeth and occasional shivers that he wouldn’t hide. It was however a wonder since he lay deep inside a pile of clothes, which he had put to reinforce the four worn out blankets that had seen more nights than his age. It was November, and November did what she new best-be chilly as hell.

Kip remembered the words he had been trying to concoct for his beloved. He was a poet. Or a wannabe poet. Either way he was just a poet without aspirations of rising above the legacy of Shakespeare. He was wise enough to know his limits. And so he typed on his worn out Nokia phone, amidst the chill. The clock was ticking towards midnight. I’ll receive a reply in the morning, Kip thought. And what’s better than receiving a long romantic message in the morning? Gold perhaps.  A jackpot. She was his gold and his jackpot. He read it slowly, like it was another poets creation, and he a mere student trying to wring meaning out it. Like god was pleased with his creation, he saw it was good. He hit the send button and switched off his phone to save its battery life.

Often in my day dreams I think about you
How you came along and changed my life
And all of a sudden it feels there wasn’t life
Like I had been waiting to really live
For one person who means so much

I see love beckon the sparkle in your eyes
That laughter of yours takes me past the skies
Sometimes I think you are not human
How you make my heart race, like am crazy
I don’t know many things but I know
I’ll give you my everything and a little more

Among the many things you are
Include class, magnificence, divinity, stars
Not leaving behind your gracious heart
Nursed my own with your impalpable sweetness
Inspire eternity to crumble beneath your feet
End to end no one ever compares to you


The cocks began crowing before Kip had even dreamt of her. At exactly six o’clock, the alarm went off. For once he began wondering why he did set the alarm in the first place. He did conjure up enough excuses as to why he allowed himself to be disturbed by the alarm, and conclusively dismissed it as an act of laziness. He adjusted his body strenuously among the pile of clothes as he reached for his phone. The alarm went off and message asking him if he wanted to switch the phone on. Kip chose to. A message sneaked in immediately the phone came alive. A numbing sensation took over his stomach. He couldn’t read it again and hit the delete button. It was better when it didn’t exist.