Kenneth Maathe

Nov 2022

Ruth Nadler-Nir

Tend to me
Like a thirsty garden once forgotten
Sing to me
Like a crying infant, pure and innocent
Hug me
Like an old friend years after
Look at me
Like an abstract painting, more complex with each glance
Touch me
Like the the cold steel strings of your guitar
Love me
Like you did before

I poem I wrote early last year while thinking about with my ongoing need for co-dependence

Kenneth Maathe Nov 2022

My Lover's Voice

On those cold lonely nights when the world was asleep,
I spoke to my lover.
Her voice, an alto, always calmed my spirit.
For when she spoke, I knew for sure, I was home.
Her voice was like an opera song quietly playing in the background while you rock the baby to sleep
The one with the lady singing her heart out about the first time she smelt a rose.

My lover's voice never changed.

When she was sad,
Her voice was the cloudy afternoon sky in July
The one that made you worried that it would rain
Because you had made plans with your friends
But, you were still relieved because for once
The sun wouldn't burn so brightly on the balding part of your head.

When she was angry,
Her voice was the hailstorm that fell with roaring thunder
And shook the leaves of the large tree in your compound with fear.
But, you were never scared
Because, as a child, you danced in the rain
And you loved the taste of the stones that fell with it.
You enjoyed sliding in the mud as you composed cheeky war songs with your best friend
The one whose front teeth had failed to grow back
Because he had laughed at the old lady with a crooked back.

When she was happy,
Ooh! When my lover was happy!
Her voice was a choir of angels in a vast auditorium
Blending the different tones into one beautiful melody
That raised the hair on your skin and gave you goosebumps
even when it was blazing hot outside
And for a moment, you were a child again
You did not want the music to end
Because you loved the way the beat rhymed with that of your fragile heart.
And when you looked into her eyes as she spoke,
Her words wove around your body like a cold gentle whisper
Wrapping around you so tight as if to say "till death do us part".

©Maathe

#laber

Kenneth Maathe Jul 2022

Path To Nineveh

It was the way she looked at me when I first met her
Her eyes had a dangerous calmness
They were like the big ocean under the clear blue sky
An unending expanse of beauty with the sun dancing playfully on her waves
Even the wind blew silently as if to not awake her from her afternoon nap.
If Jonah had sailed across, I bet he would have continued to Nineveh.
I always wondered what it would feel like to swim across through the stillness
And feel the layers of water caress my skin as I listen to the warmth of the music from her waves.
Or what it would feel like to dive into the cradle of her very depth
And see the beauty that she held within, hidden safely from the fangs of the outside world.
I wanted to see what would make her dance like a mad woman in the market square
Or what would rile her and set her off like a whirlwind in the desert.
But, i am a shy man and i could not hold her gaze.

©Maathe

#beauty

Kenneth Maathe Jul 2022

Belle

Her voice is like the cold gentle wind that passes
when you have been working in the mid morning sun
and your lips have dried up from dehydration.
She blows against your face and you forget
the aches from your lower back and the cracks from your knees
when you finally straighten up with the *** on your shoulder.
When she speaks, her words are like the first sip of water
landing on your cracked tongue
A perfect sweetness that electrifies your body and makes you anew.
You have heard her speak before but,
each time always feels like the first.

When she laughs, she just does not ha-ha!
Her laughter is like the rain that falls at night when you are tired.
Shattering your old iron roof with its might
but the loud sound comforts you
for you know that you will sleep soundly
and dream when you are a bird flying beneath the stars
with your wings spread out wide to feel the warmth of the clouds.
And when you wake up, you will have cold water
to run down your body as you listen to that French song "Belle"
The one that played when you had your first dance.

You were shy at first
But when her hand locked into yours,
your spirit calmed like the storm in obedience
when Jesus awoke from his slumber in the boat and said "Quiet!"
Together, you moved in perfect symphony
finally forming one shadow under the dim lights of your front porch
until the night fell asleep peacefully with a smile on her wrinkled face
for a new love had just been born.

#laber

Kenneth Maathe Jun 2022

A Ray Of Sunshine

Sometimes, the most beautiful things happen when you least expect
A cold gentle breeze on a hot afternoon,
sunshine in the rain,
a rainbow at the end of a heavy downpour.
But nothing beats love that finds you asleep
and you wake up feeling anew,
wondering what could have changed overnight.
But you smile sheepishly as you take your usual cold shower in the morning
and whistle as you run your belt through the belt loops of your old jeans
because it's something unique and you enjoy the blanket of warmth that has come with it.
After tucking in your shirt, you dance a little
because you remember the day you first saw her
how she walked distinctly at the bus park
how her legs moved gracefully step by step
like a conductor leading a choir with the rest of her body following in perfect harmony.
For a moment, you were lost and watched her every move, breathing it all in like the smell of soil after a brief drizzle.
That is you, my Laber.
You have been a ray of sunshine
the one that shines through a forest and gives the younger trees
the eyes to see how tall they can become.
Loving you is always easy because you make it easy
talking with you always calms down my storm
for your voice, an alto, is like the shoe you pick from the shop and your foot just fits.
And you just pay and walk away without bargaining.
Your laughter, loud and from the depths of your stomach always gives me joy
especially when you throw your head back as you laugh
like a child at a mischievous adult
I don't even want to talk about your smile,
we might need a book for that.
For it's alluring and highlights your sublime beauty.
The icing to the chocolate cake that you are.
If it wasn't for Jesus, your smile could have saved the world.
Men have gone to war for less
but for you, i am ready to start earthquakes
and make the earth tremble.
Because you are mine, my precious.

©Maathe

#laber

Kenneth Maathe Jun 2022

Something About Mirrors

It had been three months
since I last saw my face in the mirror.
One might wonder, why that long?
You see, there is something about mirrors
something about looking at yourself
and not having a conversation
just looking, observing and looking again.
That, does not sit well with me.
What if the other man talks back?
Or, what if he comes out and strangles me
and becomes me?
I do not want to give him that power.

Today, however, I looked in the mirror
My heart clenched like a baby's fist
when I saw how old I had become
how the wrinkles on my forehead curved
as if to make a mockery of the trajectory of my life.
I had never noticed the changes
because I had always embraced the child beneath
forgetting the child had become a man
and no ritual had been done for the initiation.
I had blossomed beneath the petals but I had
chosen to ignore the feeling
Right there, I could see all the talent
and the potential I had slept on
each time I snoozed my alarm for another 15 minutes
hoping to get more rest from my dreamless state.

But you see, one cannot sleep forever
unless they choose to do so.
And this is a path I told myself never to take
for I still want to travel to the far lands
and see how the children yonder dance to the rhythm of the winds
I still want to listen to the cracking laughter of my lover
when I retell one of my old jokes,
the one she has heard 42 times so far.
I still want to drink some of the local brew at the old shelter
and dance shirtless on top of one of the wooden tables
and feel my skin vibrate to the sound of the drums
coming from the big old speakers placed in the corner of the dark room
Most importantly, I want to move away from this mirror
and stop looking at myself
because it is making me talk a lot.

#secondchances

Kenneth Maathe May 2022

Sad Songs

There are days you will look in the mirror
and you will not recognize the face you see.
When you will sing in the shower
and the melody will fade quietly into the air
leaving you only with the cry of a dying man.
But, you will be blind to it all
or rather, deaf
because it is just a song to you.
But, that is the problem with songs
for sometimes, they are a reflection of our spirit.
On some days, they will come with the full force of a youthful river
tearing through the rocks as it heads to the sea to meet its calm lover
the one whose bed is soft and warm like a heap of wool.
On other days, they will come like a dark cloud that covers the heavens
and makes the sun creep back into its castle in fear and shuts its doors
because she knows that the rains will not be for children to dance in
nor make paper boats that sail with the tide of the flowing water.
She knows that these are the rains that will last hours on end
falling quietly and yet, ferocious like a serpent
that waits for its prey in the long grass where the goats graze.
She knows that the skies will be dark and the houses will flood
with angry water that will take away the little children
as offerings to Njaa, the hungry god.
And when they finally stop, the village will be quiet with grief
because everyone lost their voice wailing in the rain
begging the water to return their children.
And, when morning comes, parents will bury their children in silence
without priests to say the final prayer.
When you start singing this type of song,
I hope you will not stop.
I hope you will go on and sing every word until the very end.
Maybe then, you will know.

© Maathe