Modern African Poetry: Meet me in the Dark
Meet me in the Dark
Meet me in the dark by the blabbering shores
By the darkened waters with shadows gliding
Far and wide and falling like evening dews
Like feathers gliding on surface of water
In smoothness, dumbly and slithering.
By the sleeping willow on glistening sands
By the clasping and tangling roots of mangroves
Griding in the surface as little veins of light
And slithering between rocks sleeping afar.
By the blue water in the fading twilight
In the swirling of wind and dances of trees
In the birds’ quagmire the ogin wide
Like the rippling of water off a cliff.
Meet me in the warmth of dewy grass
In the breeze surging like phantoms
And tides snaking and booming as thunders
On the pure sky with stars scattering
And gloaming on the shoal depths.
Meet me in the dark when the raging roars
Of ocean subsides, silently and calm
Come, let us dangle our feet in the thin water
Let us swerve our veins in the warm sands
And make an oath with our blood and let
The darkness profess the whispers of
Our promise.
©®Biko Iruti.
GOD, I Said Amen
God, I prayed with efficacy
Qui vive I kept like the virgin maidens in wait
But God, tides glid across the ocean with aversion
Like ripples of hail off the blue.
God, thou name I bleated, knees bent, hands raised and face up
With fervent till my throat inflamed and dried as nun’s cunt
Or like dust snoring on an old engine
But still life shut the door behind.
God, I prayed in my innocence, simplicity and stupidity
Thou name I thundered and cried like a fish
In dust I whirled like wind and flapped as an urchin in dump
But God, thou face my eyes saw never.
God, I prayed and said many amens
Many hoping they’d form a solid amen
But still, hunger, taxes and depression baked me.
©Biko Iruti.
Of Anarchy and Liberty
In what day are we, Sunday, yes?
What are you talking about God for?
O, boy;
But religion! And other church nonsense,
Hath a way of blinding civilians
Like, Oh, little sick bat
O, sadness will dissipate
As the sun rises
Hunger will die
Taxes will scamper in fear
Life, O life, will be achievable
Freedom, O freedom will come
And pain? Pain will dance its way out
‘Cause pain;
Is like mist. Like fog. Or like dew
Only thine heart, give to God.
O man, you’re smart,
But cold, very cold in the head
May God guide thou
Hounds the nation eat
Whilst thee head sprawl
In God’s forgiveness and void faith
Here, drink! Drink this wine
For hunger and death will
Squeeze thee dry like wood.
Man, what’s thine faith?
Do you still believe
That thou command here?
But see, thine faith blind thou
‘Cause on willow it wallow
In disarray and death.
What disillusionment!
Thee man burden thine shoulders with
Of equity. Of Independence. Of liberty?
When will thou wake up
From forevermore slumber?
In seeking cowardice, O man, all you lose
Deaths are worth sometimes
Not decent deaths though
Not deaths embedded in dignity
But brutal deaths
Of man, of women
Men and women who hang
Craving for natural justice
Men sacrificed like sheep
Women sacrificed like rabbits. Like rats
For patriotism. Liberty. Equity. Justice. Transparency.
Are all decent deaths.
Such are deaths that giveth
Joy. Belonging. And dignity.
©Biko Iruti.
This Night, Today
This month,
Mother moaned,
Pain elbowed
Her inside and outside,
Tide of pain rolled
Like dung-ball
In a beetle’s armpits.
Fists clenched,
Tight!
Eyes full,
To the beauty of life,
Small,
And soft lips dancing,
Like a leaf’s skin,
Whining,
You came.
This night, today,
Darkness roamed,
Wind bowed,
Dogs dozzed,
Doors opened,
Then closed,
Shattered,
You went!
Biko Iruti
Ebbing love
Like ebbing tide, thy love leaves
Ripples in my heart.
©Biko Iruti
Till Sand Become Sugar
Baby, your eyes are a gem
Or sapphire directed to the sun
Angelic like dawnlight
Ostentatious, sharp and magnificent
Like tenderly young moonlight.
Baby, your teeth are light in ocean water
Burning with brilliance in ripples
Surging: Up, down, and sideways
Gliding and caressing earth freshly
Like a feather.
Baby, your face sparkle like fresh wine
It glitters like water in a glass.
Or glitter like a new steel
That’s directed to the moonlight.
Baby, your lips taste of candy apple
While your mouth taste of mint
Chocolate chip.
Baby, your hands on the back of my neck
Is a spasm of emotion
Wrapped in tenderness
And mouthful of affection.
Baby, let me love you
’till sand become sugar
’till mountains kiss
’till the blue of the sky fade
’till my lips are frail
To grasp yours!
©Biko Iruti.
Where should I go?
The sky with a yellowing tint
Like a white-tailed bumblebee glitter
The morning has come, birds chirp
And flutter in the whispers of wind
Hens cackle, sheep baa, and cows boo
Out of their sheds
It’s morning, where should I go?
The dwelling of God is dry like wood
The streams are dry like a bone
The mortal has incurred wrath of the sky
Nobody is sure for how
Long the cloudless sky will last.
Hovering hunger bite so hard
Like a starving scorpion
In the stomachs of the young and old
Those in graves and in life
Like a hungry female wolf.
The wind blow and dust form
On earth’s bosom
And on lips dry of thirst and hunger
A child weep, and a mother can’t feed.
The rain rains upward
Down it has refused to caress
People anticipatingly wait
Like a lover waiting for her
Man to find his path home
After a war.
Men have prayed
Women have lamented
For their children and husbands
They’ve summoned rain
Which is yet to show its face.
A few nights ago
The nation drowned in the spirit
Pleaded and asked God
To send a rain of blessings.
Little effort fluxed with the
Hungry Nationals
While the most with greed: flour hike
Taxes and inequality!
©Biko Iruti