Poem: Hell Bound by Manuel Odeny

Do you know the hardest part?

When you’ve been through hell

and back?

It isn’t the yowls of wretched souls,

seeping your life.

Or the fiery flames,

charring your spirits.

Or the painful anguish,

of hopes in dash.

Or hollow dead eyes,

peering in a dark future.

Or dead, torn ear drums,

shattered by incessant screams-

waiting for a voice of hope.

For verily:

what more can life do

to a people who have been through hell,

and back?

But after many sojourns down this path,

I verily know when the hardest part beckons,

for even the Phantom and Count Dracula shudders:

for the hardest part

Is when at the end of the road a soul reaches,

and the familiar hell path again beckons.

When at rock bottom your dream hits,

with slow sickening hit, it thuds,

before giving way, floor opens:

TO HELL!

Poem: Please Smile by Manuel Odeny

Please smile
For it costs nothing but creates much
Your smile is rest when i'm weary
The daylight when discouraged
Sweet sunshine when sad
Please give me the nature’s best antidote for trouble

Hey girl please smile
When i'm so tired, angry and frowning
May I ask you to leave a soothing smile
For thou smile is sweet
To whoever has none to offer

Just part your rosy lips
Just give me the invaluable smile
So that I can see your dimple
On a beautiful face without a pimple
Truly thy smile can’t be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen
For a sweet smile is void of earthly good
Till it is given away

Face the world with a big smile
The big mirror reflects on what you do
It will truly smile back;
Create happiness in the home
Foster good will in the business
Countersign friendship and love

Hi my girl
Though in a flash you may smile
The sweet memoirs are forever etched in me heart
Thus smile but not from a mile
So if you want people to like you: SMILE

Poem: Some dreams by Manuel Odeny

Courtesy: Lesley Harrison

They just disappear

silently

soundlessly

quietly

like morning mist

unfelt

or

gone completely

unfelt, uncherished

like an odorless fart

in a gale

From a collection of my unpublished manuscript I'll Dare Dream (The Ghetto Dream) and other poems)

© 2011Manuel Odeny



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Poem: My Father’s Son by Manuel Odeny

(Dedicated to childhood memories of growing up in Mombasa and Alfred Ayungu Odeny, My father and model of what I should be to my future wife and children)

Once

when I was still a baby boy

obsessed, thrilled with dark night sky

father said, shut your eyes tightly

then sailed I into dark night sky

dreaming of my arms

dipping in deep, dark-blue velvety

palpating golden sheen of the golden full moon

snatching twinkling stars.

But

i fell like lead

just before hard ground

to my father’s arms- veinated, calloused

his chirped nails safely grabbed

then

i opened my eyes

stretching my empty arms, pink nails

for an earnest glimpse of

a dip of deep, dark-blue velvety

golden sheen of the golden full moon

snatched twinkling stars.

and I felt sad.

Then-

father buried his head on my nape

his grizzly beard tickling my face

making little ‘blurp’ ‘blurp’ sounds

my shrill laughter

accosting his deep throaty laughter

echoing my disappointment into dark night sky

before sailing me into dark night sky

back to his rough-gentle arms

again

again

and again

to dip in deep, dark-blue velvety

palpate golden sheen of the golden full moon

snatching twinkling stars.

“Drink all Ma’s omena* soup

to be taller, reach the dark night sky”

father said, following my gaze

into the dark night sky

static radio bleating reggae

golden full moon bathing us in golden sheen

just me and my father

sleeping in his rough-gentle arms

dreaming of my arms

dipping in deep, dark-blue velvety

palpating golden sheen of the golden full moon

snatching twinkling stars…..

*Omena, from Dholuo. A delicious small fresh water fish found in Lake Victoria.

2^nd July 2011