It seemed like smoking. You are cognisant of its ramifications. Of the poison laced within. Of how it furtively sneaks on your lungs. How everytime you embrace it in your kisser you draw closer to malady. Of the inevitable end; of it, killing you softly, slowly at first and then twisting the dagger at the…

Flashing lights beam. I’m typing this cooped in a tavern, on the balcony, holding court, regaling the air with talk as we await a football match. It’s a formidable fixture, suffice to say, the bar is brimming. Abutting me to my right is this hip chap in a white cap and tee, an absolute stranger,…

We are at warA war stemming from withinA brawl of conflicted thoughtsA bedlam of bewildering emotionsA relentless cycle of angst And anxiety of youth We teeter between success and failure Tasting the spirits of both sidesThe sacharrine subtleties of success The unpalatable face of defeat In quest be someone and find someoneThe curse of youth

You are ambling through the city hubbub after an arduous day at the office, hands warily thrust in your pant pockets. It is a wonted evening. The city’s profanity throbs frantically. A frenetic hive characterizes the air; Touts clamor. Folk jostle to catch buses home. Cars honk. Solicitors and clients haggle. Street kids waddle, bottles…

I seek you in her smileThat – perhaps – behind that grin, your ghost lingersI scour for acquaintanceship when my palms trace her skinThat I might desperately glean familiarityOnly I don’tShe revolts when she catches my reluctanceAnd the cognizance of lost love unravelsIn forms so apparentDid I lose you?Or should I relentlessly pursue you in…

It’s 2 in the afternoon and some change. The gods are stoking the ether with ice; the air is nippy. So is the tip of my nose – frosty – akin to the muzzle of an assassin’s gun, better yet, like the devil’s nipples…too soon? A hip t-shirt drapes on my torso, it enchanted me…

 I’m having a bout of writer’s block. I’m asymptomatic, nothing at all, naught. I haven’t been able to churn good copy the past few days probably. You know; when you’re muse wheels on lethargically. Creaking, desperately in need for some oil. Sputtering. Huffing and puffing. Arduously revving to move. I feel like I’m trapped in…

I’m patronising my wonted barbershop getting my haircut. Barbershop gab patters on interspersed with cackles and guttural laughs. I grin. One of the barbers, a Maasai, better yet, a short Maasai is fodder for the discourse. He stands there tending to another client as he takes it all in like a sponge does water. He…

It felt like I was being swept away by raging waters. Me, flailing my hands, exerting to grasp onto something, anything that could give me a lifeline, even the amorphous abstract of hope. Lacerations from jagged edged rocks searing on my palms. Brittle plants and their branches snapping to send me off like you would…

In cool quirky blue suede Oxford shoes I had thrifted in Ngara the day before, I thrusted deep into the treacherous streets of Nairobi’s downtown sometime two years ago on a wintry  morning. I waltzed down the maelstrom of Luthuli avenue, mauling the street in brisk strides with the stealth of street cat on the…