A time for everything

I have read that verse so many times….never really occurred to me that there would ever be a time for war in my world…

Or a time i might need to admit i fancy-really fancy someone so much so that i think about how he will look like when he is old..

 Or a time i would finally admit that i long to live like an average woman my age;

It has come a time that i really need to let go of my fears of what people think of me or what they will say about me…

 Maybe after all i will live a normal life; a life whereby  i will experience all the seasons set by the one above, just like everyone else….

 I turn 24 yrs old in a few days; February 6th Wednesday and i have to admit, i long to see what life has in store for me.

But i have already started preparing a script for the one whose name is ‘Life’

…I will sit across life and tell her ( I usually think of life as a woman not a man-sorrrrry!!!) exactly what i want for my life. I will then let her speak and listen to her silent words telling me what she has in store for me-though i know that she wil not tell me everything…………

‘Warning bells’-From ‘is it any wonder’ collection

Warning Bells

By Eudiah Kamonjo

My cellphone rings

The vibration crashes me with its wierdness

Its rough and cold

Against my wooden desk

You say hallo three times 

My conscience sucks in your voice

Like a child who hasn’t had a lollipop for months

Sprinkled with drops of revenge

For things done……..but not by me 

Everyday, I have wondered

When finally that call would come

The one whose message means that

Your courage has overcome you

Or you have outridden your courage

And loved the fact that you can bring me to my knees 

Everything around me tells me that today is the day

When finally you shall reveal

The passionate hate you have for me

And finally bury me in total instability 

I know I should flee

But times are different and these are the times

The times when everyone else is killing everyone else

From Eldoret to Kisumu to Mombasa

Post-election aftermath; they call it

But I want to know

Was my angel right?

Or was my pessimism too high?

High as a man on ‘coke’ 

Every single object and organism around me

Is bleeding for my attention

Trying to reveal what is likely to happen 

But see, my heart ain’t beating like it should

Out of fear and worry

Of the pain I will feel

When finally you sink

All that anger and frustration

Not caused by me

Through that knife

Into my very soul 

My soul just worries

Will she be understood

Will her words be shared to the world

Or lost in this format 

My soul; it wants to live in my poetry

And with the warning bells it cries..  

Life after the 2007 Kenya elections

Life after the 2007 Kenya elections:

No Longer At Ease

By Eudiah Kamonjo

I wish I could say Happy New Year to you with ease! It is hard. It is hard as hell for those words to emanate from my mouth with pure honesty.

Everyone around the world knows what is happening to Kenya; the election aftermath- a blood bath characterized by bloodshed around the country, thousands of displaced people, gunshots in the middle of the night and screams of women being raped.

In all honesty, I would never have thought that Kenya would ever really come to this; yes, I have had visions hinting on something like this but at the time I thought it was just that-a dream, a baseless fear. Now, I walk down the same street I have walked for over twenty years in fear, I have no idea whether the person next to me might start beating me up or slashing me with a panga on the bases of my ethnicity/tribe.  

The thought of going to work is now horrendous to say the least, I have no idea whether I might just get laid off work tomorrow, no idea whether I will make it back to my house, will I even have a house to get back to or will it be all burnt down to ashes. With shops all closed down, where will I even get food to eat? 

Everyone is hoping and longing for things to get back to the way they were but I doubt they ever will. How can they ever? How does one get an entire house upright again without his business running or even pay that loan without a job? How does he get his wounded foot back? How does she not forget what happened to her son or to her? 

 I know I will miss the times when my girlfriends and I would go out alone for a late night movie.

We pray for restoration of peace to our beloved country but I worry …still….

My greatest worry is how will we ever trust and love the same people who tried to hurt us?  

The only words that keep me going. The words that keep ringing in my head are ‘Thank God you have the gift of life’.