#SpokenWord Listen by Akuya Ekorot

Methali ilinifunza kuna walimu wawili wakuu*
Mamangu na Ulimwengu
Nilipata fursa ya kumjua mmoja tu
Ulimwengu
Kumwona na kumwongelesha mamangu nilitaka lakini
Aliiweka dhahiri kua hakunitaka mi
Alipoamua kunitupa kwenye lile pipa la taka
Nususra niwe chakula cha Yule mbwa na paka pia
Lakini ulimwengu ulinichukua, ukanilea, ukanivisha na mafuta ukanipaka

And now I’m here
Na kama hizi streets zingekua university
Ningekua na PhD in survival
I can speak fluent English, Swahili, sheng, slang and even sign languages
From a fist, to the cock of a gun
I know what that means
You see, me and the world formed this gang
It was like a cobra and I was the fangs
I come to bite off the unwanted pieces
I come to write off the misplaced words in this open book titled LIFE
I come to strip off the pages that don’t make sense
Like, flushing an unborn baby down the toilet drain
That doesn’t make sense so I’ll strip that off
Or something like, throwing a newborn baby down the toilet drain
See that doesn’t make sense
So I’ll strip that off too
I just don’t want any other kid to go through what I’ve gone through

All those dark nights, lonely nights, cold nights
And even though I tried to console myself with the stars above me
It could get cloudy sometimes
Nights like those my dark spirits would rise
I would take my gun and use my black hoodie as disguise
Walk down the streets in search for a lost soul
And drag her to the same dumpsite I was dumped
And force myself into her with a gun on her head and just enjoy listening to her scream
For such cries gave my demons sweet dreams

When it rains, it pours
On that dark night
That fateful night
It rained
Thunder clapped and I saw the face of my victim on the lightning flash
And apart from the anguish it had
It was a spitting image of me
My stomach twitched and I knew…
After so many years of searching that I finally found my mother

Lost in my own mind
When a loud Bang! brought me back to reality
There was this large pool of blood mixed with mud
Next to the lifeless body of my victim
Tell me, how can you live if the very existence of your survival is snatched away from you?

I killed my mother.

So, with this gun on my head
LISTEN
Not to the words that I speak but the silence that it brings
LISTEN
Not to the joy and the laughter of the rich cries of the poor
LISTEN
LISTEN

Methali ilinifunza kuna walimu wawili wakuu
Mamangu na ulimwengu
Pengine mbinguni nitamwona mamangu

© Akuya Ekorot