My City

of blue and green,
grey and brown,
red and white,
my city of colours

photos taken by Antony Kamau





Nairobi City, Kenya. The most beautiful city in the world!

A Broken Toy

to say I valued you would be a lie
to say otherwise would be untrue

from among chaos you found me
a broken toy unloved and abandoned
squeaking aloud but swallowed by imperfection
and you made me feel valued once more

you I did cherish, though I did not fall for you
I was grateful but your wish I could not grant you
you fixed me and I could not be as benevolent to you
I loathed my inability to rise above my prejudice

to say I cared enough would be a lie
to say I abandoned you would be untrue

the toy you fixed is broken again
lost among the dust of destitution
a crippled doll limping to desolation
a lost plaything in the dark of a deep closet

The Treasure Box

she had treasure, housed in a beautiful box
it was a music box with words of melody
there was always a gleam of ivory,
before the melodic led to precious

she lent me this box, and I could touch the ivory
I could feel the beauty of the treasure box
so precious the music treasure box
the box was smooth and velvet

and the treasure, she showed it to me
I heard it when I touched the pretty box
I have not forgotten the sound from the box
the box whose music was the treasure

The Gems of Memory

upon six gems we struck a covenant,
to be as one among the chaos of our youth
to bond our hearts of jade and azure,
to an unlikely perfect graft

a mystic of sentiment you were
a chestful of gold-lings and shinies
the sparkle at the summit of passion found
the gentle whisper of a diamond brook

but your brilliance hid the crack in your refraction
a weakness you hid to preserve my integrity
and as you slowly splintered,
I motioned you make house with me

you slowly lost your luster
and I shuddered in silence
as deep down I knew,
the Gem Maker was calling you home

at the failing of shines,
we made our vows
the imprint of our eternal memory,
and the band of six jewels a testament to our union

you were broken and I could not mend you
and I tried to shine brighter for the both of us
but I could not fix your center
and you gave up your last light in mine hands

image created by Antony Kamau

Another Simple Truth

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Misconception of the Tender Heart

to the sainted woman who stands
upon the shores of her misconception,
and hurls disparagements, guised in canons,
for the path I have chosen,
I say, "here is my deficiency,
my destitution, my dissonance;
here are the scars that I carry
with pride and resolve,
gained of the many battles waged;
I survived, though not as you perceive,
but with tender heart intact,
ever and always the subtle victor."

Quotable Quote

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.

William Blake.

Darkess and the Old Soul: The Battle Begins

paeratus what spoils bring you?

o shadow of the storm,
me thinks there be skulduggery afoot
adora's barge sets sail for orgius-
passionada's island

vaeleria, your face has a ghastly hue..

dark mistress, save me!
adora's fairy dust has poisoned my lungs
now it seeks to poison my mind!

quickly, stand in my shadow and be restored. paeratus and paenae I want adora's barge looted

it shall be done as you have commanded,
o keeper of the darkness
may it beautify you always

aelira, take this vial of dark and cast it upon the master,
I will conjure a femme fatale who shall extinguish adora's
sparkle for all time

..................................

I, of a sudden feel a premonition of doom,
darkess schemes against me
aerotika! the master must never take his eyes of the temptress

o my star twinkle, I shall ride a tingle to the
sovereign forthwith
I am the mistress of bliss, I must feed him the nectar
of pheremona

caressa, my sweet magical touch, what has you so teriffied?

paeratus sets a course straight for us,
o flutter of the master's heart
he aims to ram us!

load the fairy dust cannons, this day shall be won yet...
by the great vaneata! what was that?

we are lost! light of the sovereign's heart,
paenae's submarine just torpedoed us!

........................................

get ready me hearties, when we board 'er, adora shall be my loot!

o master pirate, may our mistress shower you with eternal dark

o looter of the domains of light, may the seas tremble at your might

o...


One might say that Darkess is my dark side. It is interesting that it had to be a female character, this I cannot as yet explain why. She is swathed in darkness, half of her face covered with tribal tattoos. The tattoos however do not diminish her devastating beauty.

She has the power to conjure and to create servants who will cater to her every whim. Every emotion, action and relationship is monitored by her. She takes action if the "Master's" well being is threatened.

Darkess views love as weakness, she lives for passion and eroticism. She pursues pleasure, which feeds her power. The Old Soul, the one who is the Master's sappy, emotional and softer side, has realized Darkess' weakness. He now wages war, with the aid of Adora, against Darkess and the prize is the Sovereign's heart.

And who is Vaneata? We shall find out soon...

Love's False Promise

of affection and passion I cast aside
it betrays me at every turn
the promise of bliss and soft embrace
false and aborted always

I shall then only seek to make my own way
abandoned by the bosom of companion comfort
I turn my loneliness to inspiration
upon a writ I pour a bled heart

my face set to a permanent frown
my words set to a rudeless firmness
my feelings shall lack sentimentality
as my mind takes on an unforgiving world

To a Kiss

by Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Humid seal of soft affections,
Tend'rest pledge of future bliss,
Dearest tie of young connections,
Love's first snow-drop, virgin kiss.
Speaking silence, dumb confession,
Passion's birth, and infants' play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
Glowing dawn of brighter day.
Sorrowing joy, adieu's last action,
Ling'ring lips, -- no more to join!
What words can ever speak affection
Thrilling and sincere as thine!

Shh, It's a Secret

Apparently, no, it wasn't (oh, and Antony, this is another tale entirely).

Before the Birth of Dear D.D. and shortly after the Wrath of the Red Bird, my heart, young as it was, found its first object to desire. In the grand scheme of things, I spent little time in the pursuit of his affections. And what emotion I bore for him died an ugly death at the hands of a girl I considered a good friend when she betrayed my secret.

I cannot be sure how true my reasoning is, but it seems that as human beings it is in our nature to consider those we know who have knowledge of our deepest, sometimes darkest, secrets to be our friends. Those we know who do not share in knowledge of the caged, murky parts of ourselves, we term acquaintances. At the age of ten, the word acquaintance had no meaning, to me it was merely a long, hard to spell word that adults used to describe certain people. And since I knew nothing of acquaintances, all my friends knew my one big secret.

The girl who eventually betrayed my secret was new to our town, new to our school. Not that I was much of an "insider" myself. I was born in the States, Florida precisely, but at the age of two, my parents separated (for the first and not last time). In 1990, after living for five years in Kenya with my mother, I came back to the States to live with my father (he remained in the States while my mother, brother and I went to Kenya because he was a teacher), my brother had returned the previous year. So, having spent part of my early childhood in Kenya, my place in the already established social hierarchy of Moore Haven Elementary School was "outsider".

A few years of being an "outsider" taught me certain things, among them the true depth of cruelty that lay in my peers. I befriended most of the new students that came and went during my elementary school years as a result. That was before I became a snob, before middle school bred my protective apathetic shell, before high school honed my rage. Anyway, I befriended the girl and told her my secret in order to solidify our friendship. A few weeks later, during lunch, I saw her sitting with the "in" crowd whispering something to one of the "popular" girls.

I've always trusted my instincts, in my youth they very rarely led me astray, and my instincts were shouting at me, "Run! Hide! Find cover!" Of course, that was hardly possible, there was nowhere for me to go. After lunch came recess. Recess was a period of time to be endured, not exalted. That day...well, that day will live eternally in my memory. The object of my heart's desire came up to me that day, his very mien confrontational and I knew, knew that I should have found some way to run, some way to hide, some way to find cover from the inevitable embarrassment. Apparently, for someone like me to have feelings for him was an insult not to be borne. She tried to interfere, this girl who had sold my secret to our peers as an "in", but it was much too little, much too late.

Image: Wamuhu Mwaura, Hush Now Little Bit, 2009

Bosom Cuddle

There is nothing much to the poem, just looking at a lover's embrace in musical terms. I have always been a fan of musicals especially when there is no default sex involved. One fine example would be a classic Hindu movie - there is intense passion portrayed without the necessity of a sex scene.


his head rests upon her bosom
the heaving, its rise and fall
a rhythm of sentiments deep
her breath sweet, the breeze a whisper

the softness of her cuddle
the drumbeats her heartbeat
her curves his adventure
her soul his quest found

to the song the drapes dance
to the dance the palm leaves whistle
to the whistle she hums
the tune of souls united