ind

igo s

moot

hees

t h e Qu a r t e r l y Co l o u r Se r i e S o f Po e t r y©Si x t h ed i t i o n •aP r i l 2008

Compiled and publ ished by Al Kags TrustDesign & Layout by Indigo Design

Poetry by • Al Kags • Am’mi Eyal • Daniel D’uwa • Hapi ShaktiJaques Datus • Maik kwambo • Ngwati lo • Vee

Indigo Smoothees is the sixth edition of the Quarterly Colour Series that is published every three months by Al Kags. The first five

editions were Gray Spots, Blue Smudges, Red Streaks, Green Piece and Brown Steps. All of these eBooks can be downloaded from

The Al Kags Trust Web site: www.alkags.com.

Indigo Smoothees is about the necessary conversations that people all over the world need to be having with each other. From Pakistan,

to Kenya to the USA to Mexico and Australia, long standing issues abide that need for people to have sober long discussions. In this

book, you will find poetry from Palestine – an important piece by Am’mi Eyal – and more from other parts of the world. We received

poetry from Germany, USA, Pakistan, South Africa, Ghana and the United Kingdom but we found that much of it was off topic and some

of it was way too angry or cynical.

The Quarterly Colour Series continues to grow from strength to strength as more and more poets from around the world submit their

poetry for the books and its distribution crossing the 200,000 mark with brown steps. This success we have you to thank.

The Quarterly Colour Series is a poetry eBooks series that is published by Al Kags. The whole objective of the series is to provide poets

with a platform on which they can share their work freely and without prejudice and to provide the rest of the world with the spiritual

nourishment that only poetry can give.

The poetry is shared virally over email from one person to another, free of charge and free of prejudice. The rules are pretty simple. You

may read, recite, share, forward, republish – indeed do what you want with the poetry. All you must do is to share it free of charge and

acknowledge the poet and the book where you found it.

Al Kags

Founder, The Al Kags Trust

www.alkags.com

foreword

So lets sit & talk

because now

we must get along,

get on with our lives

pick up where we left off

take up the chain & walk

into the light of the horizon

It’s been too long, sirlets now sit by the coffee house And have a chatwe have argued loudlyFor much too longSo long that we missed our children growingSo much that we missed our daughters laughingWe have argued loudlyAnd we have not talked

It’s been too long, akhoyaSince as boys we played in GazaBlissfully unaware of the difference between you and me, Not aware that in a few yearsWe shall have one thing in common- Both of us shall be in the middle of crosshairsCome, sir lets now sit and have coffeeWe need to talk

It’s been too long, sirAnd I am tired and oldAnd my daughters are dead as are your sonsAnd I have nothing to show for itBut scars and tears and ruinsThat my heart and yours have bournThese many yearsIt’s been too long, sir

Come, Chaver, come saheebLet’s now sit backAnd contemplate the hot streetTogether by the shadeAnd let our sisters clean togetherFor it really has been, much too long.

it’s been too longam’mi eyal • palestine

Are you there?

Do you now sleep as you did when you were a child?

Do you dream the dreams of innocence as you did before?

Do you not see my eyes as you did when you took my life?

Do you not hear my cries as my head you slashed?

Are you there?

Do you imagine that just because my heart beats no more

I will release you from the memory of your actions? Do you

think that just because the blood has run out of my body into

the ground I shall free your mind to move into the future with

song and dance? Do you think you are free? Do you think you

can live as I cannot because my breath no longer courses

through my lungs?

Are you there?

You must come to me now. You must talk with me and seek

forgiveness from me and from yourself. You must now speak

amongst each other and agree lest my blood speaks to you.

I will not go until you talk.

Are you listening?

are you there?al kags • kenya

www.alkags.com

it allows you and meto connect…to connect on a deeper level

it calls for strength and tolerancewhich are cordial partnersin the quest…in the quest to be victorious in life

when we dialogueyou and me…we dispel distrustcreating a climate of good faith

dialogue is about learningassuming that others also have pieces to the answerattempting to find common understandingtrying to find common ground

its aboutadmitting that others thinking can improve your ownits about searching for strengths and values in the other

positiondialogue means discovering new possibilities and oppor-tunities

brother…sisterlet us be tolerant…let us dialogueKenya is not Kikuyu…Luo…Luhya..KalenjinKenya is Kenya…you and me..let us dialogue

from dialogue comes toleranceand from toleranceone day…one daypeace will reign supreme

let us be forgivinglet us be tolerantlet us be compassionatelet us dialogue

dialogue.

maik kwambo • kenya

www.kenyanexpressions.wordpress.com

In a skip of Joy

I would like to hug you

But no arms

Sliced and cut

On a Valentine day

My Love

In a skip of joy

I would like to dance with you

But legs amputated

Hit by poison arrows

On a valentine day

My Love

I would like to stare at you admire you

But I can hardly see you

My eyes tear – gassed

On a Valentine day

My love

I lost everything

But my unbroken heart to love you

My lips and smile

To tell you once more

On a Valentine day

You are the most precious thing left to me

My love

valentine in the riftjaques datus • kenya

tears running down my face

I’m saddened by the violence

escalating at an erratic pace

closing my eyes i imagine

long lost innocence

my country - no longer a virgin

trigger happy police cock gun

dramatically jumping from truck

scared men & women run

before their backs are struck

child’s lips speak despair

of lost family, singed flesh,

smoke still rising in the air

of politician’s narrowed scope

unquenched desires in their hearts

now the voter’s stolen hope

what do you mean division of power?

asks the man with the weapon

as he awaits the promised hour

but revenge leaves him desolate

chilling fear begins to devour

as in the bloody hands… he sees his own fate

stark realityvee • kenya

ww.violasiris.wordpress.com

I am a modern girl

You will never see me in a Sari

Except for when I am back home

In my mother’s homestead

I am much more comfortable

In my tight skirt to show off my hot legs

And my wonderbra to show off my freedom

I am a career girl

I don’t waste time skimming milk

Even when I am in my father’s farm

No, I work at a call centre

Speaking English like an American

Enunciating my new found lifestyle

I am a modern girl

I speak well and I’m exposed

I dress hot and I’m exposed

I sashay and from my little ass

You can tell,

I am a modern girl, like them

In New York, London and Paris

Now if you could say hi not Namaste

And teach me how to nod

Or shake my head

My education would be complete.

modern girlhapi shakti • chennai india

I see you

I hear you not

The noise between us

Is too deafening

I see your lips moving

But I hear none of it

I care not too listen

It interest me not

So I ignore you

Perhaps just maybe my fear is

I would learn a thing or two

If I cared enough to listen

If I care, you would care too

Then perhaps

Words would flow freely

Love, hate, like, dislike

We’d tongues and life would pregnant.

impregnate me please daniel duwa • kenya

Aggh! Yaani vile watoi siku hizi hawana haya – no respect – wakinigongagonga hapa na mawe! Its just good they can’t

pick up the cement flower-pots of Margaret Kenyatta. Kama angefufuka, akuwe Mayor tena?! Mwenye yuko City Hall

angesema what he has been doing all this time.

Ni kama the whole institution imedecide au imejiconvince kwamba Kenya yetu haiendi mahali. Wanatuwaste yaani.

Sijui boss aliget gari mpya and he just looked at it. Now forty years have passed, gari imeget rust, mara HIV imepanda,

Ebola hupitianga... The thing is hii gari yetu, wanasemanga it does not operate in a closed system. Unanielewa? Gearbox

ikidecide dere hajui chenye anado; anaweza hama. Uliza Bernard Lagat. Atakushow. Kidogo tutasikia there’s a portion

of the States breaking off kwa sababu ya Wakenya. Na wasilete: everyone in Stato is an immigrant isipokuwa Native

Americans. I.N.S ikitaka iende iwaulize Wayahudi, yaani the Jews, tena wale wao, wataambiwa five hundred years

means nothing when you’re talking about ancestral land ties.

Shida ya wasee hapa Campo, na mayouth generally, ni vile wanajua kuna kitu funny inahappen, they know. But they

don’t know the root of the problem; na iko deep bana, iko deep so that hata kama wachimbe, wachimbue na wa-

chomoe “marecommendations,” there will be no change. Si hawa ni wasomi? Probably wameona the most productive

thing to do ni kutupa mawe. On my side naona at least ni wafupi wafupi. Imagine kama wangekuwa wamejenga

kama Black Americans, kama Shaq hivi, hizo maflowerpots zingekuwa airborne kama ball, labda wangeningoa wani-

tumie kama rungu au kahockey stick. Kidogo umwone Lillian wa M-O 1 akitimua! He! He! He! Taimagine!

ii

Watoi wamevaa tu cotton, si kama polisi hawa nyumangu, and I know they are behind me hata ka’ siwezi turn kuwa-

ona I know they are there, nawasikia wakisweat, wakimarch na nguo zao zote, mashati bullet-proof na shields, ati ‘Gusa

Serikali Uone’ – Come on!

Haya: wameanza.

heard: traffic light monologuengwatilo • kenya

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for

knowledge of all around us, and the more we

gain, the more is our desire; the more we see,

the more we are capable of seeing.

Maria Mitchell