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AFRICA WILL LIVE!

I remember sharing a piece about the Africa we so desire. Little did I know that in exactly a year from then, unarmed civilians would be slaughtered like rats to a mouse trap. I was told of all the wrongs they did in textbooks; the human sacrifices and brutalities. The bloodsheds and the gun downs, I was told that massacre equals power and that is the only way to silence the weak. “It’s quicker than reasoning!” they say.. That could have been me. That could have been my brother. That could have been me. That could have been my sister, shot in cold blood yet unarmed.   Once we stood head high, chest out, singing to a flag held in pride, with words written in tar and toil. Now we stand near these same flags faced down, wounded, and ashamed of who we have become. Of what we have become. These are the monsters we made! I lost a friend to this fight. He left an unborn child to a bullet. Wished the bullet had waited two more months so he could hear the first cry of his son, Olamide. He h...
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Becoming

Don't break my wings when I fly, my Love Don't dampen my Spirit when I'm shiny either. Let me be who I am becoming Let me face my own demons So I can say, That I too was the hero in my story. If only you knew how hard it was to dream. Heavy on gravity, low on brevity, If only you knew how hard it was to see. You'd wax my wings cold  And inquire about my untitled conquests. About how my scars played Keteke on my guttered back And my sentences, becoming meaningless when I stammered. If only you knew how hard it was for me to speak. You'd thread my words with a thumb of thimble, And knit carefully between each cotton syllable  Till they sounded purposeful. If only you knew.. You'd allow me become.

QUARAN-TIME

Maybe all we were doing was run away From ourselves, from our breaths. From our truth. "I’m too busy.  I don’t have time even for myself." Our slang of excuse. The moments pass by, Sunrise, s unset,  We missed them all. The compliment from the chubby neighbour next door, The HAVE  A  SMILEY  DAY signage on the trees shouldering the walkway, The blush from a crush after you curl a smile, The lazy karaoke songs we could have sang with friends in the parlour The Friday night charades and the Monday morning parades, We could have been excited about. We missed them all. Now we have nowhere to go. You don’t have time now huh? Maybe this was for a reason. Maybe this was all we needed. Maybe this is the silver-lining within these airborne clouds; For introspection- A time with self A time with family. A time to be grateful for the people in our lives. A time to find love, maybe. This is a   Quaran-time . ...

Oo Baby-dobidoo👶

I watched her chew on her bread like it was a slice of Pizza. The margarine curled up on the sides of her lips, she cared less about the flies doing the Shaku on her shoulder. Her bag, heavy, she lapped it at an incline to the driver's seat. She was a 12.. I think. I don't know the assortment of sounds babies can do, but I know a happy one when I hear it. This was a boy baby, yet- to-be-a-father baby. Baby hair, baby smell, why can't I ever recall my baby self? The earth is flat. Okay. Was inflated with air as population increased, it's now a ball. Okay. Who cares? The transition remains the same - Baby, Adolescent, Young Adult, Adult, Aged. BAYAAA! Jeez, I wish that rhymed. I wish I was told that ibuprofen may be my pal in my second decade. "What's your vision in life? Why do you exist? Where do you see yourself in the next 10 years?" I questioned in my mind. To no one in particular. It was even in vernacular. He looked me in the eye and drip...

The Love of Asanka🌹 [Dear Asanka,]

Dear Asanka, I am happy to write you this letter [Delete] At long last the good Lord has answered my ....prayers [Delete] "I didn't fail. I only found a thousand ways that don't work" - Thomas Kweku Edison I don't know this guy, but we share like passions, Asanka. Um.. not that I am an electrician or anything, But I know an electric shock when I see one. Just that this time, I am not the observer, I am the victim. The recipient of your love. Like the receiver of the first telephone call in 1876,  I am 1,876 times honoured to be called your own. Yes, I have Yesu Kristo but he can take the rest of my body, You have my heart, Asanka. And that's all that matters. "Not all that glitters is gold" they say. That's the more reason I wrote this letter in ink so it doesn't glitter. My gold, my silver, my dade ts3nsi , You are my alumi, The oxygen to my haemoglobin, I love you sickled, I love you whole, Charm me with juju ...

Kinda Kind

If you were presented with the option to choose between being right and being kind, choose kind - Unknown Growing up in the Westlands of Africa, where "Every man for himself, God for us all" is the anthem on the streets and within the four corners of homes, the picture of empathy is as blur as the dotty stars and light bubbles we see after rubbing our eye balls to an itch. Mum says do not go when a stranger beckons in aid. Daddy adds " Everyone is wicked and wants to kill you." Here I am, a man in tarted clothes asks for a sip of my sachet water to quench his harmattan thirst. Some people say, such instances are orchestrated to exchange one's destiny. Others say, your wealth is traded when you comply. Too many superstitions and concoctions to topple over before listening to one's own voice. My belief  tells me to grant his wish and lip a prayer afterwards for protection- the least I can do. The drum of kindness is beaten differently in our part of the ...

The African Narrative

I see my niece drawing a young African girl with brown eyes, dark skin and kinky hair. Who fell in love with a prince in shorts , a sleeveless dashiki shirt and a glorious afro. I half rolled the millet pancakes into my hand-made lunch box. I was 40 and she, 15. She told of his most typical Afrikaans accent of a "Hi" and her nervous "beeni" which meant 'Yes' in Yoruba, when he professed his love in Ananse land- Our very own La La Land. No fairies, just a bunch of bees being generous with their honey and firefly lanterns flying across the elephant parks of Zimbabwe. I would send a mail to Mama on the moon and tell her I have found my soulmate in  J'oburg- "She is an Afronaut too, Mama". I would tell her that home was fine just the way she left it but she'd sure squeeze out the truth from my eyes like lemons in a video call. So much for technology!! you can't even tell a lie anymore! At least Nkoloso died for a noble cause. I would ...