By Wanjohi wa Makokha The village square waits like a suspended breath,flags now back high on their post, staring limply at the sunset on the low lake of our high ancestors,and I walk between shadowsthat remember his voice before I ever knew mine.Every step is a question,every silence a drum I cannot strike. I touch […]

By the Idler-in-Chief At the Nyagenke Group of DEB Primary Schools, academic creativity has reached a level only the angels can interpret. The other day, a pupil was asked to “write a poem in five lines.” The young scholar, driven by Nyagenke literalism, believed that he obeyed the instruction faithfully. He wrote POEM in big, […]

By Wanjohi wa Makokha Above the bowed soul, the fly whisk hovers, threads trembling like the last quiver of a star before dawn. The shadow of the patriarch dissolves into the whispering air, his weight folded into the eloquence of silence, and every fiber becomes a conduit through which the cosmos exhales its memories. The […]

By A Concerned Son of Gusii Dear brothers and sisters of Gusii, The political season is gathering steam with the noise and excitement that mark every Kenyan election. This time, however, we find ourselves at a crossroads of pride and peril. Two of our distinguished sons, Dr Fred Matiang’i and former Chief Justice David Maraga, […]

By Wanjohi wa Makokha Now the stately homestead breathes like an emptied elephant drum.The flags that waved have fallen asleep in dusts made by hooves.Their colors bleed into the lost evening wind,and the speeches hang in the bare jacaranda like forgotten promises.All that remains is your grave, my lord,a small island of new stone among […]

By Shem Onderi Nobody needs it.It reflects my inner self—my emotions, poorly.It exposes the part of me that rises beyond normal.My anger lasts only a short while,Too brief, yet it leaves great destruction. It boils beyond measure.I wish I knew where it resides within me,So I could extract it completely—or leave but a tender root,That […]

By Cde Wanjohi wa Makokha Fellow citizens, scribes, If it were possible to measure the worth of a Kenyan by the ease with which words are found to describe him, I would fear I’ve been tasked by the Muse with praising too ordinary a life. Yet, in standing before the memory of Mzee Raila Amolo […]

By Shem Onderi They pinch me, for they were made for someone else.Oftentimes, they are uncomfortable on my feet.The owner lends them grudgingly,With the agreement that they shall be returned soon —After the journey. You see, my wallet will not allow me to have my own,Not even one pair.With borrowed shoes, the owner demands them […]

By Ng’wono O’Nyakundi The Performing and Audio-Visual Rights Society of Kenya (PAVRISK) has achieved a major milestone after the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) renewed its licence to manage royalty collection and distribution for the music and audio-visual sectors nationwide. The continued recognition of PAVRISK as a Collective Management Organisation (CMO) not only strengthens its credibility […]

By the Idler-in-Chief This column exists to make you laugh, but I do not expect laughter today because it would be the surest sign that one’s mind has lost sound. You see, the Nyagenkeans have unanimously agreed that death is stupid. Snatching Agwambo from the world? That’s not strategy but stupidity on a celestial scale. […]