KIMUTAI KEMBOI ALLAN

 

Cognizance

 

All I know is the love

Showered upon me by a loving father

The tender care of a doting mother

Sandwiched between the two I thrive

A plant watered and fertilized well.

 

All I feel is the heat

Travailing through a rough day

My face washed by the rivulets of sweat

Evidence of the brutality I face

Maybe I have the heart to be a victor!

 

Laudantio Funebris

 

You can shout, his ears are dead

Parts that mutinied out of work.

They called for words long ago

Sweet words to soothe a beaten soul

It rained a barrage of insults

Brethren know the full terms of mockery.

The grass is dying under your weight

Dirges unworthy, seeping out of filthy lips

They have the time to wail and mourn

Celebrations and good cheer is alien

Death brings humanity closer than love

A dark web of evil designs over men

Fratricide is in the air we breathe.

You can plaster the glooms on your faces

A plastic mask for the day

Sending the late to the land of rest

The fake tears will dry away

Wreathes fading away with the days

Death calls for a hail of good words!

 

The Meetup

 

If you find me half-naked

My stomach peeping out of my shirt

By a green meadow lying on my back

A few tufts of fresh green grass protruding

Out of my bushy mouth

As antenna’s off the head of an insect

Be in the full knowledge of my situation

I am holding pertinent interaction

With sweet Mother Nature, walk away

Look for me some other day

When I’m fully clothed

Why should I break my sweet meetup

To talk to disrespectful beings? Walk away!

I will find you another place

To hold and cherish your banter someday

Hold yourself into composure and walk!

 

KIMUTAI KEMBOI ALLAN

 

KIMUTAI KEMBOI ALLAN is a Kenyan writer residing in Nairobi. His works have been shortlisted for “Our Stories Redefined Anthology for African Writing 2023 (Poetry Edition)” while others appear in or are forthcoming in the INK Babies Literary Magazine, Written Tales, African Global Networks (AGN), Ake Review, The Active Muse, The Writer’s Space Africa, the Kalahari Review, the Naluubale Review, Writers Resist and Havik’s 2020 Anthology (Homeward). He is currently working on a Collection of Essays and an Anthology of Poems.