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Mshairi: Thank you

mshairi — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:01:37 -0400

Due to distractions of all sorts, I have unfortunately ignored this blog. I have been reading and enjoying recent comments left by kind readers nonetheless and wish to apologise for not responding to these. Thank you… Sokari Donald Kihuga Gayuganda love your poem Nakeel Gish Sarah Ntyatyi Jara Mandi Stephen Bess Retweet This Post

Mshairi: Long before

Amani — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:35:09 -0400

The resolve in my heart was…..has been steadfast……. Forged in time ……..long before i laid eyes on you…… Long before our first walk together….long before the words escaped my lips….. If you wonder why i look at you with childish abandon…… Why i do not get upset…… My eyes had seen all the wrong that would come……. Still the resolve to see [...]

Mshairi: 7 hours in Twitterland

mshairi — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:23:20 -0400

About 6 hours ago in reply to mamajunkyard Trying to be as cool as Jean-Luc Picard About 5 hours ago from txt Twitted…but followers perplexed About 4 hours ago from TweetDeck Gotta stop twitting without spellcheck About 3 hours ago in reply to blacklooks Twitted but really outta be on school books About 2 hours ago from the web The twitting verve never seems [...]

Mshairi: Twitter

Mshairi — Sun, 31 May 2009 10:34:10 -0400

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Mshairi: Haiku

Mshairi — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:46:49 -0400

The nights lengthens Sleep disappears; eyes stay open Retweet This Post

Mshairi: If they asked…

Mshairi — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:00:40 -0400

If they asked He would tell them why he allows love to pass him by. He would not dissemble but would tell it like it is. He would tell them the consequence of love’s young dream is nothing but a brimful of broken dreams He would tell them about the crushing of hope, the falling off from pedestals. He would say the triumph of love is not exultation but corroding of the heart. He [...]

Mshairi: Unforgettable: Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club

Mshairi — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:54:55 -0400

This song from the Buena Vista Social Club was released in 1997. It was delightful then and still thrilling now. The members of the Club may be slowly disappearing but they leave behind indelible cosmic footprints. Bliss.

Mshairi: Wishes for our beloved

Mshairi — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:17:08 -0400

If I could write a poem I would write about you I would say your heart is like a flower That blooms in a desolate wasteland Beautiful and natural To bring joy and never-ending bliss If I could sing a song I would sing about you Amazing and extraordinary I would sing of love Enduring and intense Sparkling eyes and selfless acts If I could paint [...]

Mshairi: For Wanjiru.

Mshairi — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:36:53 -0400

We laugh but the smile never touches our hearts. We can look you in the eye but the lids quiver at random acts of kindness. Our words are two-edged; what we are saying and what we should be saying. And when we dance, our arms outstretched, directed at the sky, we are supplicating for compassion, for our splendid one be returned to us.

Mshairi: The Contemptible Lout.

Mshairi — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 06:02:42 -0400

He weaves and ducks Scattering misery and malice A little here A little there Shamelessly two-faced Brashly insincere In his wretched meanderings His heart will never inspire Neither feel nor know love Where his soul should be An abscess resides

Mshairi: The Jazz Century Exhibition

Mshairi — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:41:44 -0400

This exhibition is currently taking place at the Musée Quai Branly in Paris and covers magazines, letters, cartoons, photographs, paintings and others types of expression. The exhibition features some of the most revered names of jazz, among them, Billie Holiday, Bessie Smith Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Some of the paintings and photographs as featured here [...]

Mshairi: The poet did not lie

Mshairi — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:05:58 -0400

At the awareness of duplicity Beneath you the earth moves Above you the sky tilts Now you comprehend This wound will be deep This wound will fester Now you understand The poet did not lie It is your heart that lied

Mshairi: Celebrating International Women’s Day, 2009

Mshairi — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:42:55 -0400

On the face it, my focus for this year’s International Women’s Day, unlike the focus here, here and here may appear disordered and quite random when it actually isn’t. This year I celebrate a short and disparate list of women who have faced enormous challenges. Shirely Ann Jackson is a physicist who received her PhD [...]

Mshairi: 1 in 10 Campaign

Mshairi — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 07:34:25 -0500

‘Each year, around 1 in 10 women in Britain experience rape or other violence. One in four local authorities leave female victims of violence without the specialised support they need’. Ethnic minority women are especially badly affected. This is the shocking message for International Women’s Day for Amnesty International UK’s campaign on violence against women. If [...]

Mshairi: Pigeons…

Mshairi — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:45:07 -0500

…are not like other birds, sensible and sane One I met the other day had an especially small brain It did not fly away when I moved towards it And looked at me head-on like I was quite the dimwit I demand my piece of ground, get out of the way Get lost before I do some damage, it seemed [...]

Mshairi: Mshairi’s week of love: 6

Mshairi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:02:39 -0500

Lessons I have learned to welcome love with symbolic sacrifice and offerings of gratitude to honour love’s vagaries in the bleak solitude of night and to rejoice at love’s triumph in the tranquillity of daybreak most of all I have learned to cherish the wrench of the unseen silken thread that links your heart to mine

Mshairi: Mshairi’s week of love: 5

Mshairi — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:44:14 -0500

A hot Sunday afternoon by the Indian Ocean as sleek sinews writhe salty sweat streaks gleaming coffee-coloured skin warm breezes sway tall palm trees setting off the whisper-whisper rhythm and blind fingers grasp while mouths open waves undulate inwards finally touching the shoreline each swell greater than the last

Mshairi: Mshairi’s week of love: 4

Mshairi — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:36:54 -0500

Like a flower Like a flower His mind unfurls At the thought of her Unbidden Unwelcome Reminiscences tumble through His unguarded mind His soul Words unspoken Deeds undone His world unravelled Too late He struggles To halt the tide Powerless Memories overwhelm him Pushing him to the edge He cries out None to hear him See his pain He is alone Empty And Incomplete

Mshairi: Mshairi’s week of love: 3

Mshairi — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:30:54 -0500

Silence

She sits there where she can see your eyes
Fill with faithless tears
She sits close to hear your hushed voice
Murmur words of sweetness and love to another
Desiccated lips stricken in silence
She says nothing
A smouldering flame spreads beneath her skin
A feverish ague shakes her body
She says nothing
Teardrops sting her eyes
She sees nothing
Her soul clenched in sadness
Her spirit broken
She feels nothing
In her ears a deafening roar yet
She hears nothing but
The thousand chimes
Of a rupturing heart

And still she says nothing

Mshairi: Mshairi’s week of love: 2

Mshairi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:15:00 -0500

Love song

Love is like rain gracefully and softly
Falling
On the arid landscape where the secret
Torments of our souls dwell

Soothing
Purifying
Reviving
Washing

Away our sorrows and pain
Leaving us refreshed

Love is like a cool breeze lightly and gently

Fanning

The sultry sweltering terrain where our broken and
Anguished spirits reside

Cooling
Calming
Consoling

Allowing us to breathe
And our poor
Foolish
Hearts to sing and to
Love
Anew

Mshairi: God on a bus

Mshairi — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 04:50:38 -0500

In the beginning, there were a whole lot of words, a fundraising campaign and this was paid for.

Then there were a whole lot of other words, another campaign and now ads for the Christian Party stating this:

The man on the first image is Prof. Richard Dawkins; part genius, part irritant and the UK’s most famous and most vocal atheist. I once saw this documentary where he was confronting people who believed in God and came away with a niggling feeling that in his heart of hearts, Richard Dawkins would rather you deified him rather than believe in other deities. He was so completely up his own arse there was little difference between him and that Jehovah’s Witness person who comes knocking on your door asking whether you want to know the TRUTH and pleading with you to buy copies of the Watchtower.

I wish they would just get over themselves. The money raised for the adverts (£140,000 and counting by the atheists) should go/should have gone to charity. The people who have faith will more or less continue to have faith while atheists will not be convinced that there is a God.

This has now become like that Bugs Bunny cartoon with Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck:

Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!”
Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!”
Bugs Bunny: “Duck season!!”
Daffy Duck: “Wabbit season!!”

Although come to think of it, Bugs Bunny reverses the flow somewhere along that conversation, Daffy Duck ends up shouting “Duck season” and then Elmer Fudd goes after him with his gun.

My sister Mama C also once told me a story about two people on a train having an argument and nearly coming to blows about whether the window should be open or shut until they realised that due to the fact they were in a 3rd class cabin on the Nairobi to Mombasa train, the window did not in fact have a pane.

p.s. I love the word ‘probably’ in the atheists’ ad as it rather works to cover all bases. Just in case, you see.

Mshairi: Sometime Wishes

Mshairi — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:22:29 -0500

on the bus and train
i wish sometimes
a flick of my finger
an invisible switch &
silence from cell phone
noisy numpty disturbing the peace
& us

/ i wish sometimes /

from my seat
a flying leap
a triumphant haii!
a well-aimed ninja kick to the head &
ear clamped to phone &
wham!

/ sometimes i wish /

Mshairi: …where did the love go?

Mshairi — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:55:57 -0400

Once…
it was all there
in the timbre of his voice
when he spoke her name
the softness of his lips
as he kissed her brow
the gentleness of his fingers
when he held her hand
it was in the radiance of his smile
when he saw her face
the look in his eyes
while gazing at her
the warmth of his embrace
as he held her close

he laughs it off
says she jests
in her heart she knows
where once was love
only ashes remain

Re-posted for D.M.

Mshairi: If only we had known…

Mshairi — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:56:18 -0400

The first time it happened
She wore dark glasses, wept all day
Hormones, we sniggered

The second time it happened
Walked into a wall she said
Alcohol, we smugly declared
Signed her cast, wished her well

The third time it happened
Fell down the stairs she said
And wouldn’t smile
Lover’s tiff, we winked

The fourth time it happened
A bee stung her she said
Frolicking in the park, we laughed

The fifth time it happened
She didn’t come in
We heard she was broken
Like a toy
Which no-one could
Ever
Put back together again

If only
We had known
We cried

Re-posted for D.M.

Mshairi: RIP Isaac Hayes

Mshairi — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:32:06 -0400

I love the way some of his songs are prefixed by rap-like storytelling. Listening to ‘I Stand Accused’, approximately 10 minutes long, always makes me smile. The pathos!

‘By the time I get to Phoenix’ is also long. Approximately, 18 minutes long.

Although very similar, Isaac Hayes’s voice is not as rich and as expressive as Barry White’s. When exploring his discography however, it is clear to see that his music is very influential.

Isaac Hayes IS a soul music icon.

R.I.P.

Mshairi: Ankle beads…

Mshairi — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:05:28 -0400

In darkness
he sits
and waits
silently
she glides through the open door
the tinny tinkle
of the silver bells
on her ankle beads &
the staccato beat
of his heart
serenading
her arrival

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Mshairi: Coming soon – The International Carnival of Pozitivities (2.10)

Mshairi — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:21:15 -0400

I am extremely pleased to announce that the next International Carnival of Pozitivities will be taking place on this blog in April. The International Carnival of Pozitivities is a blog carnival for people living with HIV/AIDS around the world. This includes every human being on the planet Earth. The aim of this initiative is to [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Coming soon – The International Carnival of Pozitivities (2.10)", url: "http://www.mshairi.com/blog/?p=444" });

Mshairi: Golly! No more lashings of ginger beer

Mshairi — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:12:18 -0400

I learned two things upon arriving in the UK many moons ago. First, the name Enid was pronounced ‘EEnid’ and not ‘EHnid’ as I had been pronouncing it ever since I begun reading Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books. The other was that ginger beer, always a mystery to my young mind, i.e. how could children [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Golly! No more lashings of ginger beer", url: "http://www.mshairi.com/blog/?p=443" });

Mshairi: Put it out

Mshairi — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 06:19:58 -0400

Yesterday was No Smoking Day here in the UK. I am ecstatic this year as I don’t have to have to go through the unending cycle of convincing myself that I need to quit only to see the day come and go with me still smoking. Oh the guilt and the denial. This cycle went on [...]

Mshairi: Nice one, Chiwetel

Mshairi — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:29:55 -0400

Stand aside Patrick ‘Jon-Luc’ Stewart and Sir Ian ‘Gandalf’ McKellen and bow to the new king of theatre, Chiwetel Ejiofor, who last night won the Laurence Olivier award for best actor. Chiwetel has been excellent in everything I have seen him in and especially in Children of Men - my favourite film of 2007. Truth [...]

Mshairi: The Boatman

Mshairi — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 05:19:30 -0400

A scholar asked a boatman to row him across the river The journey being long the scholar begun to blather “Mr. Boatman,” he called out, “Let’s have a conversation.” Self-serving and pompous he asked in eager anticipation “Eh, Mr. Boatman, ever read poetry or erudite epics Or sat down to study grammar and learn phonetics” “No, I never did [...]

Mshairi: Using the C-word

Mshairi — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:57:18 -0500

It has been interesting to read the controversy regarding Jane Fonda’s recent use of the C-Word on telly in America while discussing the V Monologues with the author, Eve Ensler. My late grandfather regularly insulted us - his granddaughters - using the Gikuyu translation of the word. The Gikuyu version sounds 10008 million times worse [...]

Mshairi: Belated anti-Valentine’s Day poem

Mshairi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:53:18 -0500

Moved on Did you think I would languish Heartsick and broken When you said it was all over You needed to move on Did you think I would bore my friends With tales of you On the telephone all the time When you said I was cramping your style Holding you back Did you think I would curl up and die Listen to Billie Holliday All day [...]