Of My African Mindset

The other day, an argument on Facebook with a friend got me thinking. Just as quickly as we comment to posts, sometimes trashing thoughts and correcting grammatical errors, this time, I made an effort to read more into the article. Well, a piece my friend shared was about introducing pills(you know those drugs that prevent you from having kids)to 10 year olds in schools and hospitals. She was surprised however, and put the post up as a shocker. On the other hand, I wasn’t surprised. 10year olds, well, let’s say I have seen these little brats behave in a manner that since the conception of my being (two decades and a few years ago), I still have never had the guts to behave like they do. I quickly commented that kids in our society deserve to have the right to access pills and condoms…a comment that was met with uttermost disgust and disbelief!  Who are we kidding? In this rotten society we have created through the years, every aspect of life has become perverted....

The men in our society are slowly become a dying breed; with the worst cases of  pitiable and diminishing nit wits. Its unusual when the evening news is not filled with highlights  of rapists, murderers, priest sodomizers, drug addicts and alcoholics. The worst of  the  human species(heck even in the Animal Kingdom) has become the man. The sole  inheritor  of the earth, thus its recorded in the holy books. Well, its no wonder the woman has leisurely risen to  his role. From this, days like International Womens Day, Mother’s Day, Valentines Day were thus unarguably set aside for this glorified being. And for sure she has not disappointed. In the recent years, many women have been left to tend to children who have grown believing that they are bastards, trusting in their mothers as the sole providers and caretakers. Women have risen up from abuse, traditional customs and taboos to be leaders in their own right. Found a way to live and let live...

There lies the grave... There lies the open yard with graves of fetid dead blood, Here sadness and endless cries of African Orphans have been forever buried, There lies hunger and pain, Emaciated eyes of the unborn yet to see Where blood knows no age, Alongside deep depths of silence, suffering, hopelessness The ever crackling of expensive imported guns The blood-flow contaminating the stream waters Has now ceased And now clean water can be drawn again But with trembling feet of our African women, Who draw water with legs that are ready to dart, The sleepless nights can now relish on slumber As grass grows on the graves that have stories untold Where specters of violence, pain and inhumanity Now peacefully rest. I say! Look at the grave yard Where hunger, poverty and illiteracy Are now laid for eternity; Look at the rays of a new dawn Without the ugliness of silence Listen to the birds chirp again, Listen as the rejuvenated African drums Sound at a dista...

Of late, I have come into contact with the weirdest of people. Not by way of their physical nature, but by their way of character. I have been in close proximity with a man that talks more than the idlest of minds, a woman with no sense of pity for another, a teenager who oozes words of shame to his elders..well, a crazy world it has turned out to be. Or so I have come to learn,.. In many ways, we learn how to live with people, to talk, to listen...we are born bare...with minds that are blank and ready to capture whatever is around us. We grasp like little babies, imitate those around us, learn words that build or destroy us, act on every single thing we find our little hands or minds can reach... Being a child is one of those amazing things we experience..BUT...Wait...Its just once!...then we grow up, most traits we acquire from our parents, neighbours, school, the law of the land. We learn what gets us into trouble, what really makes us happy, we sacrifice for love and things ...

Does your Facebook status update define you? For me, maybe, no idea! Am usually a different person on social media, quite different from the actual real person I happened to be designed in real life for. You see, social media helps me create a person I tend to think I am. Or who I believe should be! It usually works, I reckon maybe. Am one of those shy creatures. Maybe shy is an overstatement. Am quiet. The lone person that just sits and listens..listens and barely talks, I usually find myself playing 'dead-bug' in every crowd. Almost always pretending the wings beside me are cut off. Helps me get away with cold, brutal murders! ..just kidding! Well, it's a nice game to play. Soon you discover what material people are really made up of (not that it really matters) but in a world of man-eats-man, its somehow important. Knowing who sits next to you, who lives next to you, that's important. So hiding behind the veil of darkness and quiet, it tends to pay off. Quite e...

By unions conjoined, do my words offend thine ears? They should, but amiably I blame the heart of thee, Who confounds to natures rule of law free Of a man with strength that maketh my breath thus flee Look how one kiss, transformeth the sole heart of thine manhood From sweet husband of another, to a lover of friar Despite of matrimonial oaths thus flawed, These be their golden times, they so seem bored Two misplaced souls in a lone lust of cage That seemeth to lead to a path of destruct By Carolyn Gatonye The above is a poem I wrote. Not so long ago. Of a relationship between married people; who are not married to each other. Or just people who cheat(in committal relationships). I wrote it as I wondered, "What makes people cheat?". What really does? Does a person wake up one day and decide, well, tonight am gonna break my vows. Is it the boredom and routine? The "getting used to the same stuff"? A close friend once told me he cheats because the wif...

"You looked at her and yelled out, Instantly never thinking of how, That may have made her feel. Did you ever stop to think that she, Dressed like that because of how it Made her feel?...." The poem reads in part. When I first read this poem, I said to myself, "oh jeez number one culprit of judgement". You see, am always judging people. I will make a comment in mind of how a woman has dressed,make a face and go "whatever" when someone looks at my legs. I have never really taken time to ask myself why a person is how they are. Am sure the throne of judgement gets sat on by each one of us..on a daily basis. Do you cringe when you see people kiss or hold hands in public? Whisper words like, "braggers", "she will get dumped". Do you find yourself laughing at a fat person and quickly judge her? "consequences of french fries", "how does one get that fat? Wasn't she checking?". Or when you see a man in sweat s...