Philo Ikonya

I will NOT forget
no court can that make
I need no photos
You can take
many selfies with him
and your ego
but I will not forget
what we know..
We all knew
Matiba's brain bled
He bled in his heart
in his soul and the
State did not quake

Shailja’s words have no borders. Her muse is a huge gust of power that carries them everywhere also after print. My copy was left with my friend at the Polish embassy in Nairobi. Months later, it found its way back to me. I treasure it.

Court poets sing praise to power and its excesses. Tendai speaks truth to power directly. Greed is indicted. Mwanaka has suffered in his flesh and blood. The metaphor he uses cuts. Politicians have to hear that they are gorging themselves. Living on corpses.

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Daughter of Kenya, Wambui,
I weep with you.

Why has your nation left you alone?
In the moment of pain,
Wambui?
When Japuonj- Munene, the big one has slept?
Wambui.

If I sing you a song whose words
You have heard in the west
You will forget that I come from the East
You will tell me that I am a confused Afrikan woman
Who has learned from the west to sting with venom
deriding cultures and speaking in borrowed tongues

If anyone doubts that Egypt is flying today on the wings of the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, they must at least acknowledge that Egypt is on fire. We saw Tunisia before. Jordan decided for an early attempt of baptism of water rather than fire. Yemen moved with Egypt.

amaBooks is set to publish ‘Together’, a wonderful collection of short stories and poems written by Julius Chingono and John Eppel.

His serene face of concern, always brightened with a smile, was his signature. His words were always that he could give more. I am going to talk about how he always moved for us, always made greater space.