Politicised Funerals – Stephen Partington
Written by Kwani · April 2, 2008
Pity our waheshimiwa,
haggling over corpses
like a parody, a farcical enactment
of great Brutus and Mark Antony.
Pity them, the pinstripe dogs
who chew upon the bodies of the dead.
It’s such a growling way
to offer your condolences
to family and friends.
Is it their pay that makes them rabid?
Come, let’s pity them.
For, see, they cannot grieve,
not for their allies nor their enemies.
In death, we all are meat:
come see our leaders
rip and spit and tear and eat.
The mourners see it, take a peek:
the bored-stiff chap inside the coffin’s
gone and voted with his feet.
Stephen Derwent Partington is a teacher and writer based near Machakos. He has previously published a poetry collection, SMS & Face to Face, in Kenya. His poetry and academic prose has appeared in various respectable publications, and he is at present a contributing member of the group, Concerned Kenyan Writers for Justice.
Thanks; as always, succint and incisive.
Phyllis
no ptiy us watching the corpse munchin and wishing it was us doing the swallowing
Interesting.
That since someone stole your vote
And asked you to go to court
You slay my wife
And sent me to court to claim her life.
Interesting.
Someone tell me, I pray
What does my wife
Have to do with your courts
And votes?
Otiato Opali
hi!i think it is very interesting and well put…i think i totally agree!!!how do you get to write so well???good job
very well expressed, and a very apt description of our politicians
excellent work here is some more
When you look at their faces
the supposedly sad faces
you sincerely see grief
The grief is more intense
when the mheshimiwa
is given the mic
to give his condolences
but wait what does he say
My brothers and sisters
we shall all join in the
mourning of our brother
We as a peolsple have been oppressed
we say no to this kind of oppression
we shall ask the government
to do this and that
I as a person will ensure that
the government is on its feet
to stop the hunger and oppression
we are experiencing
(you are probably wondering
where the sort of speech
came from
well
the tactics of the waheshimiwas
you find
nobody is mournig again
everybody
is keen
an d i ask
who is the government?
is it not him?
Then the mheshimiwa
scratches his belly
clearly
hes hungry
he stops the speech
he needs to take his mid morning snack
Who lowered the bar
me you all of us
we set it so low even goons fresh from doing time effortlessly scale it
and as they sit in that Brutus house
thumbing their noses at us
desecrating all we hold dear
we impotently twiddle our fingers and say
five years ain’t eternity
next time the rout
PRATTLES by luginu muhindah
Wake up earlier than the sun
Tell me how your yester life has been
Mine lacks star and darkness
I have seen buses shelter under umbrellas
When the rain sputters them to duress
A plum in a tie rummaged through the bins
In the search for a bit of corn
While the scraggy ape sat on and upon
This orb so selfish
To those who deserve pity
Tell me about yesterday
About how the people sat in times like these
Because I have not seen such in a wee of the crease
Since you care for your spongy skin at bay
While leaving lives desolate of care
Neath the saintly chore we gave you!