HAVE YOU SEEN THE GHOST IN KISUMU

Have you seen the ghost in Kisumu?
He has covered the town in smoke and soot
He has soaked the people in fear and anxiety
This ghost has wiped the faces off the streets.

Have you smelt the ghost in Kisumu?
The ghost is burning bodiless tarmac
The bodies of the lifeless lie in stinking silence
The limbless are grateful for breath without gangrene

Have you seen the ghost in Kisumu?
He resides in the hearts of the hopeless and helpless
The ghost has swam through the fishless lake
And blocked the passages of life and love, in or out

Have you heard of the ghost in Kisumu?
I heard his whisper in the still of night,
of doom yet to embrace the town
Of animals and monsters creeping into the land
Of haunting existence and bloody resistance

I have touched the hand of the ghost in Kisumu
It is cold and hot in its grips of the children’s smiles
It has slapped the love and faith off the faces of our mothers
That hand holds back the flow of life into oblivious stagnation.

Have you seen the ghost in Kisumu?
He’s sun bathing in the heat of the tensions underneath the surface
He has taken the food from the mouths of our people
He has driven the people from their homes and hopes.

The ghost of Kisumu is hovering in our minds
The ghost in Kisumu s waiting for the devil’s dance
Whiling the moments in the cracks and creases of our paths
Enjoying the scenery of our waterless boat-free lake.

13. Jan.2008