The difficult part is over
Go out to the world and above others hover
For rainy days you have knowledge as a cover
Where you go your like await
They are brainy people with no time to waste
Talented, busy, organised and never late
The cream of the crop of a republic is behind that gate
Their logic carries weight
They plan and never leave destiny to fate
Go well my son and make us proud
Speak intelligently, be economical with words and don’t be loud
Stand out and never follow the crowd
Be one of them in intelligence and always remember the success you vowed
Go with my blessings and be a role model for the others we mould
You must forgive my high school class teacher for her modest expectation
Every body out there expects a little more of the same situation
I met my teacher recently to tell her, her dream had suffered an abortion
The guys dispose dirty water in the dustbin and waste food in the sink
The girl I used to like lives for the drink
Her roommate’s grades come as easy as a wink
Classwork is not worth the ink,
My political friend says without a blink
I have a girlfriend who loves sex in a Westlands’ parking bay
Friends that irresponsibly make babies day after day
I spent all my HELB on a classmate stripper last May
Some people say this is decay
But the important thing is that we are happy although we lost our way
I no longer know what I want to do when I graduate
Tomorrow will take care of itself, let’s look at the immediate.
My teacher wrinkled her face in distaste
She tells me to look at the future because some day the fun must abate
I gave her another look and I thought ‘Old age does frustrate’
These are the people from whom I must dissociate
It was 2 pm so I held out my hand and cut short the update
I had a season to watch that would take me up to eight
Monday, October 18
TV PROGRAMMING
The trouble with Kenya is her TV; at best boring and alien. Whatever local we have is poor and now a copy cat. There was a time we did not care how many locals we had showing, we just cared who had the best shows. It was the funniest comedies that won, the most gripping dramas that held viewers and we had no soaps to bore us and misinform and misguide the young girls that there was a perfect world made so by something called love. In those great and glorious days, we had no soaps that transformed grown women into a pulp of confusion. I miss the days when locals were as original as the 1995 Mama Kayai and Ojwang and drama was Seventh Heaven and adverts were as entertaining as the Vicks Kingo one.
Now everything has changed – for the worse. We have locals that look like like a test tube baby gone awry, and if you dropped into a Kenyan sitting room any late morning and afternnon, you might mistake this for Nigeria. But thank God for KTN, they are always so independent, they would never become a Naija station. They go one better and buy all the crap South Africa has in the garbage. From comedies with no smiles to dramas and action that only belong in South Africa. That is when you have to turn to NTV. At least they are focusing on the urban youth. It must be entertaining. But I came to realise that NTV has 10 minutes of entertainment every week; 5 minutes on Friday during Bull’s Eye and another 5 on Saturday when it is repeated. Now, now, wat remains of entertainment at KTN? Ah! I remember! We have to wait for Lilian Muli to engage her Kamba accent. My mum won’t find it funny when she says KT ‘hen’ for KTN, so what must she turn to? There is a variety of stations, but if what you want is entertainment, get yourself some pirated movie.
What is it that the variety has brought? There is KTN first. They pioneer everything, but they can’t run fast enough. They will have a great show, a world classic, but they will be showing the second episode at a time when I am watching the third season. They used to have great movies, now the guy they have given the task of deciding what we watch simply goes to the studio and presses REPLAY. I think they last bought a movie in 2004, and it was old then. And on whose life are their locals based on, I have not seen a Manhattan suburb in Nairobi. But with the locals they are not alone, there has been an outbreak of some sort of acting malaise in the local industry. A vast majority of locals are poorly done copy cats of a foreign thing. We must appraise Makutano Junction and Papa Shirandula for some form of independence. Makutano is especially original and with a good picture quality. Shirandula has the watchman concept that every body is now copying. I am particularly itched by Nairobi Law. They have a poor picture quality, the same malnourished and underage judge who can’t afford a good tie, the same prosecutor who has watched too much TV legal drama, Kimani who has shamefully tried to enact Boston Legal. The choice of characters was totally wrong, going by the fact that they sought as many renowned artists as they could find. Then they got themselves a room that looks like the store next to the stairs in a Kayole building. Not satisfied with all that mess, they told us that these dramas were based on true cases that appeared in the Kenyan courts, only for me to watch and find little of the acting being done in a court. When they did decide to get to a court, their cases were heard on one day and the judgement on the next! Not even our president would have it that fast in Kenya. Never mind that on the second day most of the people in the court will still be wearing what they wore yesterday. I hate this thing!
Now, Citizen is not the only annoying station. The one I have to delete from my TV is K24. Was the K meant to stand for Koinange? Because it certainly is Koinange 24. I heard it was supposed to be a news channel 24/7. Well they have 3 minutes news about things that are not really news like an African proverb and music programmes. When they want news they have to ask another station to chip in. Poor quality sound and picture, a background that was undoubtedly made by a road side artist and anchors who have not been introduced to make up. It is one station that deleted its mission and vision statement as soon as they had been read, so now they will go wherever they can go; where tomorrow takes them. For a news channel they have done the wackiest job I have ever seen or heard of. I would rather watch Unjiru Tv.
And now we must ban all these Mexican soaps. They are contaminating our women and girls with immorality and cutting their IQs by three quarters. You have to group these soaps with the awkwardly un-African condom adverts. While we are on the adverts; why does the Harpic advert only appear while am eating my supper? I hate this one product, not only for spoiling my meals; they have also wasted one of the greatest talents in comedy. They made Nyambane change careers from comedy to washing toilets!
If TV is meant to be entertainment, why do they allow boring and annoying adverts too? The short term goals of profitability have overtaken the purpose of TV, for how long it will continue I cannot say. Let somebody start thinking in these studios. We are bored with TV!
Now everything has changed – for the worse. We have locals that look like like a test tube baby gone awry, and if you dropped into a Kenyan sitting room any late morning and afternnon, you might mistake this for Nigeria. But thank God for KTN, they are always so independent, they would never become a Naija station. They go one better and buy all the crap South Africa has in the garbage. From comedies with no smiles to dramas and action that only belong in South Africa. That is when you have to turn to NTV. At least they are focusing on the urban youth. It must be entertaining. But I came to realise that NTV has 10 minutes of entertainment every week; 5 minutes on Friday during Bull’s Eye and another 5 on Saturday when it is repeated. Now, now, wat remains of entertainment at KTN? Ah! I remember! We have to wait for Lilian Muli to engage her Kamba accent. My mum won’t find it funny when she says KT ‘hen’ for KTN, so what must she turn to? There is a variety of stations, but if what you want is entertainment, get yourself some pirated movie.
What is it that the variety has brought? There is KTN first. They pioneer everything, but they can’t run fast enough. They will have a great show, a world classic, but they will be showing the second episode at a time when I am watching the third season. They used to have great movies, now the guy they have given the task of deciding what we watch simply goes to the studio and presses REPLAY. I think they last bought a movie in 2004, and it was old then. And on whose life are their locals based on, I have not seen a Manhattan suburb in Nairobi. But with the locals they are not alone, there has been an outbreak of some sort of acting malaise in the local industry. A vast majority of locals are poorly done copy cats of a foreign thing. We must appraise Makutano Junction and Papa Shirandula for some form of independence. Makutano is especially original and with a good picture quality. Shirandula has the watchman concept that every body is now copying. I am particularly itched by Nairobi Law. They have a poor picture quality, the same malnourished and underage judge who can’t afford a good tie, the same prosecutor who has watched too much TV legal drama, Kimani who has shamefully tried to enact Boston Legal. The choice of characters was totally wrong, going by the fact that they sought as many renowned artists as they could find. Then they got themselves a room that looks like the store next to the stairs in a Kayole building. Not satisfied with all that mess, they told us that these dramas were based on true cases that appeared in the Kenyan courts, only for me to watch and find little of the acting being done in a court. When they did decide to get to a court, their cases were heard on one day and the judgement on the next! Not even our president would have it that fast in Kenya. Never mind that on the second day most of the people in the court will still be wearing what they wore yesterday. I hate this thing!
Now, Citizen is not the only annoying station. The one I have to delete from my TV is K24. Was the K meant to stand for Koinange? Because it certainly is Koinange 24. I heard it was supposed to be a news channel 24/7. Well they have 3 minutes news about things that are not really news like an African proverb and music programmes. When they want news they have to ask another station to chip in. Poor quality sound and picture, a background that was undoubtedly made by a road side artist and anchors who have not been introduced to make up. It is one station that deleted its mission and vision statement as soon as they had been read, so now they will go wherever they can go; where tomorrow takes them. For a news channel they have done the wackiest job I have ever seen or heard of. I would rather watch Unjiru Tv.
And now we must ban all these Mexican soaps. They are contaminating our women and girls with immorality and cutting their IQs by three quarters. You have to group these soaps with the awkwardly un-African condom adverts. While we are on the adverts; why does the Harpic advert only appear while am eating my supper? I hate this one product, not only for spoiling my meals; they have also wasted one of the greatest talents in comedy. They made Nyambane change careers from comedy to washing toilets!
If TV is meant to be entertainment, why do they allow boring and annoying adverts too? The short term goals of profitability have overtaken the purpose of TV, for how long it will continue I cannot say. Let somebody start thinking in these studios. We are bored with TV!
Thursday, October 7
Innocence
I want to look at your tits
And not see the bulge
I want to look at your nipples
And remember………remember the kid me suckling
I want to look at your hips
And remember…….remember the kid me resting on them
I want to go back to that age
When every old man was a sage
My dad could beat all the men in our village
And my mum was so genuine
She wouldn’t lie about me falling from heaven
I want to be a baby again
So I can sleep next to the house girl
Without anyone caring
I want to lie back on my bed
And genuinely laugh in happiness
At the success of throwing a stream of urine against gravity
I want to draw a dog for homework
Go back to a time when there was no nakedness
I want to walk to the front of the church
And with pride, give a shilling
I want to run away from this age
So I do not have to strip you in my mind
I want that small brain back
So you all know you flash the toilet for me
I want to be a small boy again
I want all my childhood innocence back
I want every one to treat me well
Because I am innocent
And not see the bulge
I want to look at your nipples
And remember………remember the kid me suckling
I want to look at your hips
And remember…….remember the kid me resting on them
I want to go back to that age
When every old man was a sage
My dad could beat all the men in our village
And my mum was so genuine
She wouldn’t lie about me falling from heaven
I want to be a baby again
So I can sleep next to the house girl
Without anyone caring
I want to lie back on my bed
And genuinely laugh in happiness
At the success of throwing a stream of urine against gravity
I want to draw a dog for homework
Go back to a time when there was no nakedness
I want to walk to the front of the church
And with pride, give a shilling
I want to run away from this age
So I do not have to strip you in my mind
I want that small brain back
So you all know you flash the toilet for me
I want to be a small boy again
I want all my childhood innocence back
I want every one to treat me well
Because I am innocent
BEHIND THE MIRROR
They say:
The darkest hour is nearest to dawn,
And there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
It is the early bird that catches the worm,
Love drives out hate,
And bridges connect across barriers.
They never told you:
Darkness comes after the light of day,
Or that incandescence may blind.
That the tunnel is a dark patch in brightness.
The misfortune of the early worm,
The hate that overcame love,
Or the walls that replaced bridges.
And the truth, the truth:
The world is a spinning sphere
Those above are below tomorrow
The process of natural selection is karma
What goes around comes around
The end will be the beginning
We are similar in our differences
And equal although unequal
The components of peace,
Although rivals.
The darkest hour is nearest to dawn,
And there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
It is the early bird that catches the worm,
Love drives out hate,
And bridges connect across barriers.
They never told you:
Darkness comes after the light of day,
Or that incandescence may blind.
That the tunnel is a dark patch in brightness.
The misfortune of the early worm,
The hate that overcame love,
Or the walls that replaced bridges.
And the truth, the truth:
The world is a spinning sphere
Those above are below tomorrow
The process of natural selection is karma
What goes around comes around
The end will be the beginning
We are similar in our differences
And equal although unequal
The components of peace,
Although rivals.
DIRGE
Only a few birds sang today
A soft, mournful and unusual song of a people’s cry
Despair at sights from Eldoret and Homabay
When Kenyans chose others to die
Neither the murderer nor the victim can say
Why the dead had to lie
Forever out of life and not see the next day
It is then the birds loved their small head
That does not see differences
They remain as a family till dead
At least they avoid these civilisation experiences
Insane leadership
Personality worship
Stupid sheep
A defiantly afloat ship
A country in mayhem
A leadership undoing the hem
A nation crying for unity
A leadership practising irresponsibility
A soft, mournful and unusual song of a people’s cry
Despair at sights from Eldoret and Homabay
When Kenyans chose others to die
Neither the murderer nor the victim can say
Why the dead had to lie
Forever out of life and not see the next day
It is then the birds loved their small head
That does not see differences
They remain as a family till dead
At least they avoid these civilisation experiences
Insane leadership
Personality worship
Stupid sheep
A defiantly afloat ship
A country in mayhem
A leadership undoing the hem
A nation crying for unity
A leadership practising irresponsibility
IT’S ALL OVER
A friend died here
The bullets whizzed past my ear
I escaped through the rear
It wouldn’t be a year.
Life is no longer dear
Its end is always near.
Thank God it’s all over
I don’t look forward to death no more.
They found us playing pool
We were just cool
But then there was money for them to drool
So there was push and pull.
We knew when one pulled out an aggressive tool
They were wolves in wool.
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
I run for the sins I never knew
We drink alcohol we never brew
Life spans shorter than God drew
We never even grew
The youth gone like a boat sunk with its crew
The story is not new
But it is not beyond a stitch in time to sew
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
Most wanted I was named
With a reward to be claimed
I was bound to be tamed.
Guns were shown as I was blamed
They all ignored the innocent dead and maimed.
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more
They give you a choice
Death or death or a heart on ice
That is our police
Police service or police farce?
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
I am dead
They killed me.
The bullets whizzed past my ear
I escaped through the rear
It wouldn’t be a year.
Life is no longer dear
Its end is always near.
Thank God it’s all over
I don’t look forward to death no more.
They found us playing pool
We were just cool
But then there was money for them to drool
So there was push and pull.
We knew when one pulled out an aggressive tool
They were wolves in wool.
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
I run for the sins I never knew
We drink alcohol we never brew
Life spans shorter than God drew
We never even grew
The youth gone like a boat sunk with its crew
The story is not new
But it is not beyond a stitch in time to sew
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
Most wanted I was named
With a reward to be claimed
I was bound to be tamed.
Guns were shown as I was blamed
They all ignored the innocent dead and maimed.
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more
They give you a choice
Death or death or a heart on ice
That is our police
Police service or police farce?
Thank God it’s all over.
I don’t look forward to death no more.
I am dead
They killed me.
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