I just kumbukad this kashairi I wrote and submitted while chasing a scholarship in Dec 2006. I didn't have pesa za kuishia L.A to see if I'd be nominated for the USD 10K . Then the jamaas sent me emails mob sana trying to make me subscribe to a poetry newsletter or something. My goal was to get some money, not spend the little that I had. My shairi has a new meaning now. Its kiasi long but I hope you enjoy life in my neighbourhood in Naikuru. I doubt much has changed, except I miss my ex-boyfriend, in a weird sense.
THE ROAD IN FLAMINGO
The road in Flamingo is busier
than a hive in the morning,
Adhiambo can't cook enough mandazi
by the gutter to feed the Flamingo population,
Mburu's grandmother has to get to the market
before the sun rises and withers the Sukuma Wiki from Dundori,
Soni runs to buy milk at Sugunoi Dairy,
the only place with unadulterated milk in town,
thanks to the kind Kalenjin,
Atieno needs to get to Pangani before James goes to work,
Or, someone else will do his laundry
Mama Karuga holds her three-year-old Stevo by the hand,
and rushes along lest he misses his Math and writing classes,
And Mathenge better run to School,
if only to avoid the angry master-on-duty's cane.
By noon, Mama Nguo has already
made her rounds in Flamingo,
and sold her imported mitumba clothes on credit
Tomorrow she will collect the
cash from last week's sales
The man from Dundori has sold
one sack of potatoes on his bike
Nyaloka has sold all her omena
fish to her fellow Luos and Luhyas
Tony and Nini finished unloading the Coca Cola Truck
And Kariuki Wakiraini has sold his usual portion of sugar
and yeast to the chan'gaa brewers.
At sunset Teacher Wangu
finishes her after-school Math
and English language tuition to three-year-olds
Wangui braids her last customer’s hair
Wambui tips her fellow brewers about the
young police officers pausing as chang’aa customers,
as if she doesn’t know who drinks at whose house
Chali brings his grandmother’s goats home.
And Kimondo picks out new people
who might have cell phones worth some cash
Mothers sit at their doorsteps
cutting Sukuma Wiki to eat with Ugali,
Chatting with their neighbours across the open sewer
Fathers come home from the new mjengo construction job
Boys go to buy maize flour at Kariuki Wakiraini's
Girls light the charcoal jikos
And Kamau Wetu is already drunk enough
to give his daily political speech on the
deplorable standards of living in Flamingo
“Siasa mbaya, maisha mabaya”.
The road in Flamingo is full of mangoes in January
Pears in April
Guavas in August
Red plums in December
And every day,
The road in Flamingo is full of mourners,
boys running around with no pants on, and drunk men.
18:08
