Poets, win Kshs. 1,000

Poets, win Kshs. 1,000 when your poem is selected as the poem of the week!
As promised, the poetry competition is on and popping. Poets now have a chance to win a thousand Kenya shillings in appreciation of their creative works. To enter the competition, send your poem to poetry@bernardmuhia.com
Only poems sent to this email address will be considered. The winning poem will make its debut along with my new website on the 15th of November 2010 http://www.bernardmuhia.com/ -Grotesque!

Submission guidelines:

1. Include the title of the poem in the subject of the email as well as in the body of the email.
2.Include your names, as you want them to appear in the credits.
3.Only one poem per email.
4. All forms of poetry are acceptable.

The deadline for submissions is midnight November 5th 2010. May the freshest poem win.

After the November 15th launch, this poetry competition will be a weekly feature of the website, so keep participating to continue winning.

ALLEGIANCE SHIFT

By Redscar McOdindo K’Oyuga 

The love you professed was
A seething stockfish studded
Pot of soup whose aroma
Could be smelled from afar
But the latest oozes a sell out stench
That of a saboteur's territory overrun
With ease by an army of occupation

A tactical change of guard effected
A swift and stunning operation
Rules, regulations and laws overturned
With cowing decrees flashing red
In one eagle-like fell swoop

Your heart now on parade
Is but a decoy
The device of an Intelligence Chief
Your allegiance of yore having been moved
To dwell with a strange private
Your secret made naked by your coldness
And the void in your nude eyes
The mirror that exposes the devious
Designs and devices of your heart
Sold cheaply to a stranger on rampage

An open classified information
It is that that half of you
 That was me is in protracted coma
Being strangled by your indifference.

The Other Side of Darkness

By Trish Kerry on Facebook 

 

The last shreds of my restraints
slip away at the mere sight of you
They constantly warn me against you
But they don't know or understand
Its that darkness in you am attracted to
Its that dismal deviousness am drawn to

The halo on my head tips
every time I am close to you
Cos of the thoughts
that take refuge in me
The wings on my back withdraw
and in their place, two horns grow

I swear its the way you look at me
Awakening the redundant shame in me
Its like you've taken me
in every way and every form
Like my dark desires
are open bare to you

I try to stay away
but you always find me
And when you do,
you strip me off my guard
leaving me defenceless to your charm
Creating in me a thirst
only you know how to quench

We're two opposing forces
We're naturally made
to work against each other
Where you hurt, I heal
What you break, I make
And where you are, I am

Each time you leave my embrace
A little darkness is left in me
Slowly by slowly
you turn me against my course
And I can see myself
doing the same to you

We question our masters
We dare think of betrayal
Knowing treachery
is punishable only by death

Yet questions stare naked at us
How much longer
can the other side of a star stay blue?
How much longer
can the dark side of the moon stay concealed?
How much longer
must daylight follow night time?

More benign,
How intimately
does one need to know another
before the intimacy consumes them?

You inspired me

By Redscar McOdindo K'Oyuga

you focused on my strengths, always
accepting me for who I am, and
respecting the choices I've made.

you reached deep inside my heart
and replaced the rain and darkness
with the sunshine of a warm smile.

you inspired me, reminding me of the
beauty of the sunset and making me
see beyond my own narrow world.

you encouraged me to follow my dreams
and even when the road was rough,
you always cheered me along the way.

you never gave up on me - not for a
single second - even when I was more
than ready to give up on myself.

you devoted your time to me and
remained a constant in my life
even when the world was changing.

My Rose

By Kiarii Wainaina

A sprout, frail and green,
Into a firm stem grows.
Such promise it shows,
When a bud is first seen.
Into a rose the bud grows,
And a beauty never seen.


A rose, red and preen
When the morning sun shows.
In the moonlight it glows,
Though daytime’s already been.
Ever prettier it grows,
A lovelier rose has never been.

A fragrance for a Queen,
Is thy scent when the wind blows.
Thy beauty as sunset glows,
Is the beauty of a teen.
Endless as a fountain flows,
Thy praise has always been.

My rose I’ll be ever keen,
Thy fountain ever flows from whence thy beauty grows.
Thy petals forever keen,
Never to dull their royal gloss.
Though a thorn on thee grows,
To hold thee I will be ever keen.

Remember me

Written by Kiarii Wainaina

Sing a ballad for me,
In the quiet of the night.
Sing lullabies for me
Tell bedtime stories, me
When sleep flees me,
And dreams take to flight.

When night like a pilgrim,
In a black hooded cloak,
With warmth for a lover,
Shall enter so bold
Pray be a dreamer,
Of our memories of old.

The sweetness of the pain
When thee Cupid claimed,
The magic of his portion,
Oh, the beauty of his wound!
His rugged blessed arrow
I beseech forever adore.

Dream memories of old:
by the stream we first met
The rocks like men of old,
stars winking, like naughty peers
The crescent smiling, like a content mother.
The waters humming, our sacred love song.

Like a young sun at dawn,
Beautiful and warming,
And the full moon at harvest
A face full of promise
A thousand stars in the night,
Is the vastness of your mystery.

Twinkle, twinkle little star,
Lovely eyes in the dark,
Gently, gently in your arms
Hold me closer to your heart,
Softly, softly like a babe,
Lull me slowly till I sleep.

Poetry to the people!

I meet ordinary people who tell me that the last time they listened to or read a poem was back in high school. I’m usually not shocked because even today, most students don’t care much for poetry, save a few in the drama and music club. For a few years now, poetry has been for a closed society of poets who meet at poetry nights (myself included) to share in the latest poems that they have been writing. This is alright, but just like any other form of art, poetry belongs to the people and should be presented to the masses for them to enjoy. Thus my goal from now on is to take my poems out of the poetry nights and on to the masses. I intend to do this using wedding ceremonies as a platform.

The good thing about weddings is that you don’t have to worry about bringing together an audience; the bride and groom have already done so. Secondly, weddings are a time when everyone’s emotional state is heightened because it’s a romantic celebration. A love poem thus fits effortlessly into such a setting as it encapsulates and portrays the prevalent feelings in the atmosphere. Poems enable us to say what we would otherwise not have the words to express. They let us speak in the language of the gods and transport us to a Utopian space. Have a poem at your wedding ceremony and enjoy the divine energy that is poetry.