HIS SKELETON

I watch him stagger towards me. No, he isn’t drunk, but he can barely see. “Natty…” Lyesa whispers as he heavily lands on his knees next to my bed. He wraps his hands around my waist, buries his head in my stomach and weeps. For the first time in the twenty-six years of my life,

THE MAN AT THE CORNER

You can call me paranoid, but I believe that even you would be scared. If you met a man at the corner who stares at you intently as you approach and as you leave, you’d be scared too. So, I have decided to move house. Tsk, hear me out. I moved to Witness Suites a

LAST PAINTING

“Pass that to me.” She said while pointing at a silver lighter on the floor near the ash tray filled with half smoked cigarettes and two unopened packets of the same. I adjusted my trench coat before picking up the lighter.                          “Did you smoke all these today?” I asked and with a small smile

FLAME

A letter to her beloved Flame, It’s been a minute. Tsk, let’s be more literal. It’s been weeks. Five weeks since I last talked to you. To tell you the truth, I have been avoiding you. You see, when I see you, my heart beats so fast and so loud that sometimes, my ears can’t

ZEKE

“A sequel to RAGGED GOLD” (Here is a link to Ragged Gold, if you haven’t read it already: http://smmwords.blog/2022/01/16/ragged-gold/) I swing my office chair, my eyes closed. A small smile grazes my lips as I remember her cheeky smile. Marylin… We never talked, but she dropped her cards next to my feet enough times for

RAGGED GOLD

I don’t understand it, but neither will I fight it. The feelings I have towards the young man who wears the same torn, blue jeans and black shirt six days in a week. The man with the longest unkempt dreads that really need a good wash. The fella that sits by the fruit vendor at

THAT MORIO

“Wakasa, Nocha Mwirobi Okhayiya sa na bikhana ta.’’ “Wakasa, when you go to Nairobi, study, don’t just focus on making the rounds with women.” That’s what Wakasa’s grandmother told him before he moved to Nairobi five years ago.  Right now I am seated next to him, patiently waiting for him to stop crying. I am

IN THE HOLY CHAMBERS (excerpt)

                                   MWEZI crouched in the corner of her room, her head between her knees. Her shoulders shook violently as she cried silently. Ever since she was a child, Mwezi had imagined very many different versions of her life as a young adult, but never did she think that at twenty-four her life would be such a complete

JOURNAL OF THIS KENYAN WOMAN

“Not as a feminist, but as a female” Dear Journal, I am sorry to wake you this late in the night. I wanted to come and weave these words earlier, but I had so many words and little ink to sort them into sensible structures. Well, right now I am here because I want to

“CALL ME DADDY”

“Anita, call me Daddy.” Anthony whispered. I felt pure anger as I listened to him. The grip on my phone tightened with every word he uttered. The Audacity!! How can that man come back to our lives and act as if nothing happened? No, I refuse to call him Daddy. I refuse to call him