AT WAR

source: www.psywar.org

 

We are at war;

All of us.

Soldiers, warriors, victims, citizens.

With blood on knives, arrows, blades, blood on our minds.

Trapped in the cages we call minds,

Bound by chains of false promises.

We slave,

We hope, we wait.

As Buildings go up in smoke.

We hear guns and bombs…followed by silence and sobs.

We fight as they steal our freedom,

Sinking us deep in the sea of blood and tears,

“our bloody enemies are so close, they are in our ears”.

We are at war.

Black trenches...black coats,

Black as their souls;

Black as the skin on their bodies;

Black as the burning blood they spill;

Black as the hands that carry the weapons;

Black as the people they kill.

We knew,  we knew all along

Yet we shut our ears.

The cry of the orphan; we ignored.

The widow, the widower; we created.

The soldier, the child; we killed.

Dreams haunted by the oppression of war.

Violent men welcomed with pomp and glamour,

Celebrated.

Peaceful men, who wore compassion as their amour,

Disregarded.

We were at war.

Befado

Source: www.digitaljournal.com

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In Case of Emergency by Barrack O (@bar_rack )

Now, now, now, before you start thinking that the POTUS wrote this, let me remind you to Keep Calm and read on. The author(bar_rack) *lol, notice how he plays around with his name? You, Judge Judy, gerrrarahia*, is one interesting being. 

Imagine that you are walking in town one Saturday afternoon. Either alone or with a friend in tow. Let’s assume the second option – you are strolling in town with a friend, W. You talk about the weather and how it’s been behaving. How the week was at work and at home. You talk about everything that you can possibly talk with your friend. Then, suddenly, in the middle of that you start feeling ill. At that moment you realize that there is something terribly wrong with your body and you cannot really figure it out. You assume and keep on talking. Suddenly your friend realizes there’s something terribly wrong, but they too are clueless. Things happen so fast that you start losing your sensory abilities – you cannot feel the spoon that’s in your hand and you fail to coordinate the digits on your hand but nothing. Before you know it, a sharp migraine fills your entire head causing you to slump on the table, weak and helpless.

Across the table your friend looks at you, helpless. Prodding with questions.

“How are you feeling?” W asks.

“Pins and needles,” you respond. Google that if you don’t know.

“You were just okay,” W says, confused. “What is up? Do you 

have anyone I can call?”

“I have to think,” you respond, gasping under the intense pain clouding your head.

Then you realize that you almost have nobody in your “In case of Emergency (ICE)” list. Then the wildest thoughts start swarming your head.

“What if I was alone and I collapsed in town?” A thought crosses your head.

The People in Our Lives

That’s what happened to me a few months ago. A small incident that shook me a lot. It made me think about the people I could reach out in case something goes awry and I needed someone to be there for me when I couldn’t help myself.

I was shaken because things went from good to bad then ugly in a matter of minutes and lasted about four hours. I was hanging in there – in a body that was caving in to what felt like nervous failure and a headache from hell. Yeah, that’s what happens when you overwork yourself for almost three straight weeks.

I was also shaken because, had I been alone in town, the experience would have been unimaginable, or so I thought. I would be alone in this city where expression of concern is considered rare.

Before I go  on, I happen to be on W’s ICE and that is why we were in town in the first place. W had landed herself in a technical mess the previous evening and I knew the right person who could fix her problem. People who watch movies on their laptops while tucked in bed need prayers.

Back to this moment when my nervous system has decided that I will feel nothing and do nothing.

“Here’s my phone,” I groaned. “Unlock it and call E”

E was not in Nairobi. He called his brother who was closer. As close as Rongai! How close! I was in CBD. How helpful!

“Who else can I call?” W, who is also my partner in crime asked.

“Try my cousin, C,” I said. “He works around here and he can be of help.”

“He says he’s away upcountry,” W said.

“Okay,” I muttered. Trying to think and getting the sharp headache, needles and stings under control. 

“Call J, he’ll call a doctor for me.”

This is the part where everybody you need is away and you are almost alone.

In hindsight, I have learnt the importance of having people who know what to do when they get that call telling them that you are not okay. It is very possible to have over 2000 friends and acquaintances on Facebook, 2000 followers on Twitter but zero people on your In Case of Emergency (ICE) list. It is a frightening thought to say the least. And by that, I exclude parents. No parent who is miles away wants to be told that their child collapsed in town while taking a walk. I am talking about friends who will immediately pause their lives and rush to where you are and see what they can do.

Interestingly, like on this particular day, ambulances also proved quite hard to come by. Dialled 1199. They took their sweet time. Called St Johns Ambulance. Nada. But that’s when that cab guy you befriended a while back shows up immediately and joins you, helping W to handle the emergency situation that I had become. All he asks is for you to tell him what hospital he can take you and not to worry about the cab fare. He coordinated with W in communicating with a doctor friend and eventually we settled on a hospital.

“W, you have to go home,” I said. “I am in good hands now”

“Weeee!,” W retorted. “Then what happens?”

“I can take it from here,” I responded, like when the CIA and FBI folks in movies tell the local cops.

“Cow!” I was told. I laughed quietly to myself. All this time popping in and out of hospital reception. A head scan here. Medication there. A doctor asking what’s stressing me up.

“I said a prayer for you in that waiting room,” W mentioned much later.

Buses, Lifts and Fires

Many weeks later, I have learnt the need to constantly evaluate the accessible people around me. Who knows where I live? Who needs to know where I am traveling to? Who needs to know where I am late at night especially when stranded? Not everyone. But people who I think matter and who will, in turn, make a difference should anything happen. Or just for the sake of knowing.

But then, I ask myself: Am I in anyone’s ICE list? Will I be able to stop my life to attend to a friend’s need till late in the night? It takes a handful of people to make a difference when all fails.

Buses have huge writings at the back glass window (is it a window really?): Emergency Door: In Case of Emergency Break Glass.

Lifts have stickers plastered: In Case of Emergency Call These Numbers 07XXX. Just in case you get stuck in a lift and you need the world to know where you are.

Some buildings have a fire alarm installation with a key: In Case of Fire Break Glass for Key. The key will always give you access to an emergency fire exit and you’ll be safe from the fire.

It is also a requirement in some of our workplaces for us to provide the details for next of kin. Same applies for life insurances and investment chamas and the likes. Just in case something happens to you at work and they need to know who your family is.

In case of emergency, I hope the 5 people in my ICE list will be the reason I will be in the ICE list of 5 other people.

This post was originally posted here

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Are You Man Enough? by Kelvin Kaesa (@KelvinKaesa)

Who is a man?
Mwanaume ni?
Mwanaume ni wallet?
Mwanaume ni effort?

Men are all that
And double-caps bold highlighted headlines on the front page of a best-selling magazine, 
you can find 10 tips on how to know if he is the one,
Six more on how to keep him;
And 5 secrets on how to make him good in bed.
So go on and get yours while stocks last, get him while he’s still tall dark and handsome.

This is branding
The idea of manhood has now become commercialized
turned into a pop culture trend
the principles defining manhood can now be found copy-pasted onto newspaper lifestyle columns,
cut-out and pinned onto the walls of high school dorm room cubicles filtered into man-crush-Monday Instagram hashtags

“you thought it was hard being a woman?

Try being a man on a Monday morning when your crush posts a man crush and it’s not you…” 

it’s hard out here for ninjas like we
society is forcing us to evolve
we no longer stand straight and cannot hold up our heads backs bent typing away on google trends
a man has to make sure his personality traits are tagged just fine to show up on the first page your search results go on, take your phones and google “how to be a man” you will find more than 2.4 billion results in about 0.79 seconds
Now that is fast
Fast enough to teach man how to bend into a consumer sized package wrapped up and delivered to your door step
waiting for you to let him in
his heart now bends in ways that won’t let him feel
and whatever else is left standing straight, has stereotypes to fill its place the bits of human left in him are trapped inside a hard heart
hard as a clenched fist holding on to trends, and needs he needs…
he needs more morphine for the state he’s in
more dope to lace his lips so they get hooked to what he says he needs more bass for the chiqs he wishes he’d win
he needs more chisel-chipped abs for the freeze-frame photo-shoot photos his followers want to see
They want to see more smiling… less frowning
“smile wider… don’t let the world see your frown. You are atlas go on hold your head up and don’t get your world off-balance”

I wonder, how many of you ladies take time to make sure you go out with the right guy?
I mean a crop-top, high heels and classy clutch bag need a fine brand to accessorize I wonder what skin tone of a man will match your dress tonight
There is a saying that goes
“teach a man to fish and you save him for a lifetime”
but, teach a man how to hunt like a dog and all he will ever know is to follow commands sit…he sits stand…and so he does here have a bone for your efforts
now wag your tail, roll over and die
whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks forgot to mention that survival is a basic instinct so old dogs can learn to adapt and humans…well humans are not far off from the rest of the species keep repeating a slogan and see if he does not adapt… even bone of his bone can be made just that…a bone that… that is how you identify awesome branding!!!!

Now, how many guys here today think they are man enough?
How many of you are sure you are not just brands?
Go on. Think about it. Look into yourself
Look keenly, look closely
Because I can bet… that all you see are blurred lines
Your blood line has become so twisted you can form jungle-gyms inside your heart You cannot trace down your ancestry
In order for a man to find the true definition of manhood
We have to go back to the beginning
Hebrews 1:3 “…the son is the radiance of the father and he holds everything by the power of his words”
The son is the radiance of the father
The sun reflects the light of its father
The son is a perfect image of his father…like literally
He was made in his image and likeness.
Life breathed into his lungs, heart pumping he speaks things into existence

Now, you need to realize this is why God intended that man become head of the family
Because in him he holds the power to hold things in place, be a provider and sustains those close to him. He reflects good character that defines hiss offspring’s well being
So, do you still think you are man enough or just a brand?
You can wear your snapbacks, saggy pants and cool hairstyles. But that…that is just branding. Be a man

This piece was originally posted at Story Zetu. All rights preserved to Kelvin Kaesa. Read More of his works and projects #OfSmallBoysInBigCities and #MadeToRise here

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WHAT IF WE: APPRECIATE

“So I called my dad to wish him a happy father’s day and he laughed saying I've got jokes”.

 

 I swear I burst out laughing that day. See this young lady known as Shiru wa Wanjiku is a funny one. Not only does she write beautiful poems that kiss your soul over and over (read them here), she is also a crazy one. You should hear the two of us having a conversation. I would like to blame the fact that we attended the same high school but that wouldn’t look good for the high school right? So I’ll just blame my circle of friends and make a mental note that I should get new ones.

 You’ve got to love how we love these “Day” days. Valentine’s Day, Christmas Day, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Labour Day, Independence Day, Birth-Day (lol)...then there are those days that we have invented;  sijui WhatsApp Admin Day, Best Friends Day et al. Any reason to buzz over social media platforms; right?

I remember when I used to volunteer at a certain children’s home where this young lad who we shall name Jude used to reside. Among his peers of ages two to three, he was the sweetest thing alive…stubborn he was, but I mean, he would hide sweets given by the frequent visitors to give to babies that were asleep when visitors came. Occasionally he would give me one when I left for home in the evening and ask me to take it to keep it as his way to say “thank you for taking care of us today”. Well, he would also add that I should not eat it but give it to that baby we had at home because “sweet ni za watoto (sweets are for young ones)”, but that is beside the point.  You know that warm fuzzy feeling you feel in your stomach, your insides warming up and you feel like hugging someone? That's how I felt...each and every time. Believe you me that small act would make me look forward to being in that home as early as possible.

Ever attended a  burial where those in attendance fill their sentences with “so and so was a good person…they did this and this for me…..they used to do this every day…I wish  I could tell them how I appreciated it…if only they would wake up and see how grateful I am…”? Many are the times that we take for granted what others do to us, until the grim reaper takes them away or they stop doing it; then we start singing the “I miss the way you used to” song. We live in a society where when and if someone does something for you, you think they are obligated to do that because, I mean… it is you. Or some society rules dictate that they do.

Well, I say break those societal rules and obligations. I mean, do we have to wait until the next “Day” day so that we appreciate someone by putting their picture as our profile picture, or post on  walls about how much we appreciate their existence (while knowing too well that they are not on the social media platform you posted and you would rather do that for the “likes” than say it in person) , or wait for the day things start going south and memories of what they used to do is all we have, or death takes them away? 

We need not to! Appreciate that person who sacrifices for your sake. Someone makes food for you? Appreciate. Someone does your laundry? Appreciate. Someone keeps checking on you? Appreciate. Someone is always there? Appreciate. Someone teaches you a lesson? Appreciate. Someone takes care of you? Appreciate. Someone taught you what you now know? Appreciate. Someone did that thing for you? Appreciate. Someone helped you? Well, appreciate!

I appreciate you all who take the time to read my posts. 

What if we appreciated each other? What if we started today? What if we did it #ForMyCity and for humanity?

Facebook:  Njeri Kareithi

Twitter: @deekareithi

 (The campaign dubbed #ForMyCity  is led by Poetry Spot. Follow the conversation here)

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SO LOVE by Gufy Dox

The things we do
The things we say
The smiles we make
The bills we pay
This is us.
This is me
This is you.
Believing that
Love is in the air-
at least that’s what we say
But is it true where you come from
Beauty is determined by curves and size of ass
That
Emotions and love are measured by short flings,
short dresses,
short conversations,
and short relations
Circling around custom made likings
that short women are more beautiful-
and tall women are hard to curve

We have reduced the power of feel
to
Fights between light skins and dark skins
Not knowing that’s definitely and intimately-
21st Century racism

Is it true that
We have boxed love the same way
the opposite sex has?
Emotions sent in chocolate bars-
boxed
Feelings travelling in electronic phones-
and buzz-
boxed
Have you ever stopped and wondered?

Maybe in the world of emojis
They laugh at our ignorance
every time we send smiley faces
with sad intentions.
We no longer laugh like humans, we
just imagine laughters.

So next time you meet your loved one
Smile a second longer than
The recycled smiles on your phone.
Hug an inch tighter to trigger warmth
that will walk you through the cold times
Because these boxes can’t store
the shapes of love our heart makes

Because…

We are big
I am big
you are big

So stretch, close your hands
to the things we do
And open your hearts to the things
ought to be done since
Beauty and killer looks shouldn’t be boxed
In aspect ratios
That rely on another user to ascertain
our real worth, but
That’s how low we are
In a world where self opinion
should be the bench mark of who we are
But who are we
To find love when we are lost
Who are we to hold love
When we let go too soon?

I haven’t been kissed with lips that lack lies
And for every hand that held me
spoke of how loose I am
I have swam in oceans of ‘it’s not you,
it’s me’
‘You’re too good to be true’ and
I have tasted the excuse of ‘I need more-
time to know you’

My heart has had more breaks than school gives
My eyes have seen more beauty in
phone screens, but
Average people when met in reality

I have learned that tears cry too
that hearts fade away
with every rejection
And souls bend to breaking points
with every assumption

So dear lady,
If a man takes long to show his emotions
Go grab his hand,
Steal a kiss
And when he is breathless
Let him know how you feel

To everyone who is hurt,
this is how we heal,
this is how we rise
Schedule your pleasure everyday
for your pain has already scheduled itself

So today, put people first
And tomorrow, when they’re difficult,
Put people first
And when you get to itch for something new,
Put people first
And when you think your pain
Necessitates giving up everyone you love,
Put people first,
and,
Open your world to other worlds
Gift your hands the textures of different people
Feast your eyes to shades of
different colours and fly your minds to
clouds of
How other people make it rain
in their own world

So today,
Learn that we are big
I am big, and you are big
So love
Love like hate has powered you
So love
Love like a heartbreak is chasing you

So love.

All rights Reserved to Gufy Dox. See more of his works here

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OF SIGHS AND WORDS

Speechless

I am speechless,

When I think of you;

I go mum,

Dumb, damp, with every pacing heartbeat,

With every gust of blood cells from my heart,

Cells paint your name on my veins,

All those impulses of love,

Softly whispering your name,

Softly killing me inside

*Sigh*

In my mind I see you,

Kneeling before your maker,

Pouring your heart, your life, your tears in worship,

Weak enough to submit to a higher being,

Strong enough to give your all to Him,

It turns me on,

So much that,

When I I’m speaking to Him about you,

I just smile in silence, sighs and face palms,

Leaving it to my heart,

To tell Him all that you are to me,

Thanking Him for you,

For your past, my past,

Our present, Our future.

Befado

Photo Credit: Kari Jobe

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MANIFESTATION OF LOVE

Valentines is drawing nearer with each rising and setting of the sun…of all the definitions of love that I have ever come across, these manifestations of love are the best that I can agree with (this is my opinion and that of the writer).  Just from the way it started, “God bless you in your relationships, and may the Holy Spirit empower you to love with a love that is not your own.” Caught my eye (and my heart). Here is what the writer said

1. LOVE IS... being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger.
2. LOVE IS... actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward another while looking for ways to encourage and praise.
3. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that come from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.
4. LOVE IS... being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding.
5. LOVE IS... being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing, or being right. 
6. LOVE IS... a making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness, and failure and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame.
7. LOVE IS... being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rising to your defense or shifting the focus.
8. LOVE IS... making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature, and patient.
9. LOVE IS... being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged, but looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good.
10. LOVE IS... being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it, or encourage them along the way.
11. LOVE IS... being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed or you have agreed upon a strategy of response.
12. LOVE IS... being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always being committed to grant forgiveness when it is requested.
13. LOVE IS... recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promises and true to your word.
14. LOVE IS... speaking kindly and gently, even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.
15. LOVE IS... being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-opt the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way.
16. LOVE IS... being unwilling to ask another person to be the source of your identity, meaning, and purpose, or inner sense of well-being, while refusing to be the source of theirs.
17. LOVE IS... the willingness to have less free time, less sleep, and a busier schedule in order to be faithful to what God has called you to be and to do as a spouse, parent, neighbor, etc.
18. LOVE IS... a commitment to say no to selfish instincts and to do everything that is within your ability to promote real unity, functional understanding, and active love in your relationships.
19. LOVE IS... staying faithful to your commitment to treat another with appreciation, respect, and grace, even in moments when the other person doesn’t seem deserving or is unwilling to reciprocate.
20. LOVE IS... the willingness to make regular and costly sacrifices for the sake of a relationship without asking for anything in return or using your sacrifices to place the other person in your debt.
21. LOVE IS... being unwilling to make any personal decision or choice that would harm a relationship, hurt the other person, or weakens the bond of trust between you.
22. LOVE IS... refusing to be self-focused or demanding, but instead looking for specific ways to serve, support, and encourage, even when you are busy or tired.
23. LOVE IS... daily admitting to yourself, the other person, and God that you are unable to be driven by a cruciform love without God’s protecting, providing, forgiving, rescuing, and delivering grace.

This is the kind of love I am striving to daily to have.  I may not manifest all, but I try my best to show love in ways that God would like me to.

                     

                 Once again, Happy Valentines from Njeri Kareithi

 

@deekareithi

                                           @deekareithi

see the original post here 

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MAYBE, MAYBE NOT

Will the movie end?

Or will the road have a bend?

Will the earth keep rotating?

Or will it keep the sun anticipating?

Will the wax melt away?

And make night from what was day?

Will the chocolate melt as well?

Or will the fireplace be where I daily dwell?

Maybe, maybe not.

Will the heart keep beating?

Or will it keep bleeding?

Will the blood keep flowing?

Or will it stop without knowing?

Will I forever resist you?

Or will I forever love you?

Will there finally be us?

Or will our love suffer from a curse?

Maybe, maybe not.

Do I still love you?

Do I still care for you?

Do I want to spend my life with you?

Do I believe in us?

Do I? Do I? Really?

Maybe, maybe not.

Befado

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A LETTER TO MY SOON TO BE WOMAN by RixPoet

When I first read this; I was taken aback. The articulacy, passion and wisdom in it is just over and above.  This piece was written by a friend and someone I look up to; a great man, an inspiration and a star in the rising....enjoy

Dear You, 

I've been having funny dreams lately. I see you walking into my life with parachutes and lots of bags - baggage. Yes, I know we are about to fly, but are you ready to carry my luggage too? I've been born and raised in closed boxes and where I am now is a place of retribute; I'm paying tribute to past pains by living in an ocean of good things - happy deeds and poetry.

I'm not sure if anyone taught you how to love. But the man in me is a boy who loves to child. I love playing with mud and dancing to Awilo Longomba in the middle of the quietest nights; the gloom of the earliest mornings. I will sing to you on the first phone call I make you in the morning because life is music and I'm the lyrics. I pray that you are a good dancer. You don't have to know how to shake your African treasures but at least know how to dance to words. If you could listen to the tunes in my speech, and I, the vibrance of the sound that comes out of your expressions, and laughter, then we are going to Rome together. No, Nairobi; my home. Do you have a home?

I've been to many relationships; met bold and beautiful girls and women. It's nothing to be proud of. Through it all, I learned that there is a selflessness that is needed in order to give someone your heart. Emotions are expensive. To sell them to anyone takes lots of nerve and risk. We love wearing clothes and masks that cover our souls so as to create false impressions of a life we do not own. Well, I don't want to wear clothes around you. I want to be as naked to you as I am to God, woman.

Please take note of this, that I do not know how to cook very well, but I can survive on my own. I can try hustle a fish inside a pan with a little oil and savor a meal though. You'll teach me the rest lest I burn our kitchen someday. But God knows I love food. I love ugali and mbuta, with soup. I love rice even though some African men often suggest that it is not food good enough for a man from this continent. Where I come from, there were no puddings and desserts, but once in a while mother pushed in some pawpaw and pineapples after meals. She is a great cook to date. Always reminded us that you must clean your cooking area after you finish with the stove. She should never find any clumps of ugali around the gas if you are the one who did lunch. The consequences were dire.

I love taking long walks. Sometimes when I'm quiet around you, it does not mean that I'm sad about anything. Just be wise enough to read the words of my silence. Sometimes I just want to be looking at you while talking to God in my head, wondering why He had to make your eyes so beautiful. I'm a quiet man who loves his peace and space. And when I'm jumpy and naughty, it is me eating the other half of life.

I'd like to be praying with you. I'm eager to listen to the words you tell God when you are angry with me. Or when you're happy or sad. Your walk with Him matters to me, probably more than anything else. I haven't figured out life to its totality myself. No human being really gets there. But I'm hoping to learn from you things that the world has not taught me. So love me like a teacher loves his students.

On some weekends, I will be out with the boys, watching football or making boyish chatter in the streets. I will not be in a position to reply your texts as fast as I'm used to during such moments. At times like those, please don't think that I'm out with other women. A little jealousy is okay though.

Do not be swayed by my words; I'm stubborn. My tough head will drive you nuts occasionally. I'll be the last person you want to see or talk to on some days. I have a poor memory and could have the tendency of forgetting some things you tell me, though at least not your birthday. But I'll forget the date of our first kiss.

I cherish the idea of chivalry. It's the same way you feel like a woman to serve me food. I'd like to live in your world; plant flowers and make dams on your soil, so I could have a garden to come back to for heavenly fragrance, and a place I could come quench my thirst when life gets me so thirsty. In my mind and heart, there'll be a fountain of endless waters that wait for you to draw them whenever you feel like. Things won't always be rosy, I know. They shouldn't. We haven't the right to heaven yet.

I'd like to know your language, so I could fathom the best diction to write you poems that would make earthquakes in your heart. I'd like to listen to your many words, and questions, even though I will not have answers to a majority of them. What I want to enjoy is seeing you comfortable in your skin; awashed of insecurities that hinder you from being the best woman alive.

I be brave, you be brave. One of us falls, the other picks them up. God is the center of our crimson chord. I know you want this like I do. Let the poetry begin.

Yours,
Eric 

For more about/from Eric, subscribe to his blog , find him on facebook or contact Kenya Poets Lounge

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