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Naima Mungai Jan 2019
They fed me,
you see.
Fed me full
of pain,and hate,
and despair and
loathing.

They fed
my eyes, my ears,
my mouth, my soul.

But my heart
it refused.

With my blood,
a steady beat,
a flowing rhythm,
my heart fed me.

Joy and love,
and hope and gratitude.

and now,
here I stand.
My true self,
emerging from this
dark shell,
a shadow of
my hearts true being.
Stronger.

For still even now,
they try to feed me.
This poem was inspired by a painting by Kenyan Artist Beatrice Wanjiku "Resume Your Flesh and Form V"
Naima Mungai Jul 2017
The heavens mourned
   in my stead love.

They railed and rent
   themselves through,
   in the deep knell of the thunder,
   and the flashing light of the lightning
   as it struck in all its fiery promise.

The gods themselves
   wept my tears, my love.

Rivers upon rivers
  from those fickle immortals,
  for where they are,
  they were moved.

Because I mourned you
   my love,
I mourned you.
I mourned you,
  so deep.

But I was too far
  from my eyes to weep.
Cut off from my arms
  that I could not tear my
  clothes.
Closed off from my throat
  so the world would never
  hear the banshee in my wail.

For as my body mourned,
My soul sought you.
It reached out ,
  to Hades Realms
  if that was where you went.

It asked
   why would you leave us here?
   this body of mine and
   it's soul.

So I could not weep
   and I could not wail.

And so the heavens,
   they mourned for me.
Erebus The Greek underworld, in mythology, is an otherworld where souls go after death, and is the original Greek idea of afterlife. At the moment of death the soul is separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and is transported to the entrance of the Underworld. It is not Hell but the afterlife.

Rest well, you were loved. written 13/7/2017 on your funeral
Naima Mungai Jul 2017
for I have seen,
     my word is death.
my word in my mind
     creates my life,
and in my life is death,
    so my word is death.

there's so much of it,
so many versions of this
  word.

a word written, spoken,
        thought...
and it is death.
       over and over,
       it is death.

many deaths,
      one death,
      over and over
      by one word.

but what word is it?
      what word that creates life,
      and therefore death?

because this one death,
this death I die,
      over and over,
      by this word,
it is killing me.

it smothers my life,
      my love my heart.

now if only it was
     this word,
a word of love,
      would that it would create
      only love,
      but hate would follow
      in it's stead.

and so it is with all
     these words,
      joy and sorrow,
      hope and fear
      charity and greed.

and so thus it is
       that my word is life
       and it was death
       because in both
       all things are
       over, and over.

and my word was death.
written on 1/7/2017 enhanced by Glass Animals WYRD from the album ZABA.
This is my wyrd, woven from the threads I have provided by my past thoughts and actions; I myself have designed the unfolding pattern of my life." from Urban Dictionary
Naima Mungai Mar 2016
It is the vastness of it all,
the grandness of it all,
the feeling of wanting to
know it all.

Our worlds, our links
to lives around us,
to stars above us.

It is the greatness of it all,
the knowing of unknowing
never knowing...

That destroys me
Everyday.
Naima Mungai Jul 2012
I am descended of Lilith,
I am a child of eve,
I am cast out, i am trod on.
I am likeness of Kali,
re-incarnation of Aphrodite.

In my arms nations
  have been built
  and destroyed.

My kiss has charmed
    and killed.
My hips have
    cradled kings and emperors,
   borne beggars and lepers.

I am all this WOMAN.

Woman
  not of hips and *******
  and womb.
Woman
  not of servitude, meekness
  and petty deceit.

I am Woman.

Woman
  of pain and love
  and hate.
Woman
of blood rivers and
  barren deserts.

I am Woman.

So heed me
Heed my pain,
watch my deeds,
for my meekness,
  my servitude,
Are mere cloaks worn
  to shield, to imprison
  to impede...

And as the soul sheds the body
So do I now shed
  this lie, this deceit
You create for all to believe

And become just
    WOMAN
Naima Mungai Jul 2012
This is the voice of the face at the mouth at the heart of that woman
This is the tear of the smile in the chamber where she lost her soul
This is the hate from the love drawn deep in the well where she stores her hope
This is…

It is what I make it,
It is what she wills it to be
My nemesis, my lover, my judgment, my retribution

This will say that I do not care,
That I never did and I probably never will.

This will write that I do not love,
Nor hate, nor cry or laugh
Not in this life time,
            the one before nor the one after.

This will decide that I am
Haunted by hate,
            by my apathy,
            by my indifference.

This might touch you or loose you,
This might move you or change you,
But it cannot show you me
You will show you me
You will show me-me
My self, my disgust, my filth, my dirt
How?
In your eyes,
In how quickly you turn away when I walk by
In how soon you will forget my name
In how much you will disown
Me, disown my words, my feelings, my hurt.

And yet I am drawn
To still do this
To reach out, to play, to hurt, to maim

I am sadist,
Narcissus
Alone
Yet I still


Rock forth
Rock back
See in, see without
Look,
Touch,
Feel,
Yet what does it mean?
What do I invite?
Who am I now?

I do not know this person
Do not feel them

Think
Think
Think about man
Long, hard, hate
Think about life
Pain, alone, death
Think about love
Left, hurt, tears

Alone please
Shouldn’t be touched by me
Bad spirit
Bad heart

Do I know why this
            is interesting
            hand hurts now
            stop.
Naima Mungai Jul 2012
again i meet you,
stand and see you ,
in another's eyes,

again i hear you
sit and listen to the sound of you,
in another's laugh.

again i feel you
reach out and touch you
through another's skin.

again i love you
i turn and hold you
in the closeness of another's arms.

again i smell you,
and kiss you,
and want you,
and find you... again.

will you stay this time
are you real or just a shadow...
of what shall not be.

again.
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