THE MEMORIES OF YOU

We all like the smell of nostalgia,

Until it changes into the stench

Of an old lover who won’t let go.

When the memories of you join me for breakfast,

I don’t clean up after them anymore.

I leave the cups and plates of their time-consuming ways unserved.

Mawazo yako yananiichokora akili!

Ni nini?

Oh, Do you miss my good manners?

That hid your true colors in between grey areas

 Are your hands itching to mishandle my sanity again?

Juggling my worth around with a smile on your face…

You clown, It’s a circus show to you,

when I wear a brave face and confront your shady ways.

You applaud yourself when society sends back my cries for help for editing-

 to sound more believable… before they can approve

That there’s sth wrong with you

When the memories of you join me for breakfast,

I scramble my eggs and eat them!

Did you expect me to sit hungry and feed you?

Your visits in my mind are pointless,

All they do is give me EMOTIONAL distresss

You see, violence with you didn’t look like you knocking my teeth out

Or punching me in the stomach

None of the scars on my body are your trophies

But your effortless abilities to be dishonest WITH ME cut me in my chest

How many affairs does it take for it to be fair for you ask me for fare

And use it on another girl’s hair

Wanakujua kama millionaire

Nakujua kama mse m-unfair

The songs…

The songs you sang to me were recycled

You used them somewhere else

Kwa Yule mse umemsave kama fundi wa viatu

Najua hakupigii kujua foot size yako

Ni kitu ingine anataka kujua the size of

Siri zetu hazikuwa siri zetu

Niliziskia kwa dorms za qwetu

Pale USIU

Who was I to you?

What hurts the most is that you left me before I left you

And now i’m left to catch myself every time I fall for Nairobi men

Thinking they all follow the model of manhood you left in my head

Si tuache kutumia kanairo kama excuse ya kucheza nje na kusema

Ndoa inaenda extint – monogamy haiexist

Lakini najua mtasema why so serious connie

Kwani ni kesho

You’re right si kesho

Lakini kesho milioni ndio time yu take kujenga kitu solid

Yesterday, today was called tomorrow

Maybe its time we start thinking of tomorrow

as something we already waited for yesterday.

Tomorrow never comes ni wewe

Tomorrow is here. In this room

Reading in between my lines

Even more than you.

click the link below to watch full performance of the poem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew8cMMCKlCw&t=11s