"pyrethrum" poems
When ever I touch the ground that’s hot
With the sole of my foot that’s bare,
I never fail to recall a time,
And the memories lingering there,
Of a day when I was just a boy,
Beneath equatorial skies,
And the tactic used to keep me indoors
While the missionaries rested their eyes.
My mother was sick with malaria
The curse of the tropic zone,
And while my dad was away on the hunt
Their station became our home.
And after lunch when the sky was hot
And the morning’s work was done
They took my shoes away from me
To keep me out of the sun.
The veranda air was still as a grave,
Not a sound to could be heard outside
Save the click-click-click from the beetles
And the grasshoppers jumping to hide.
Or the scratching scaly slither,
Of a snake on the flowerbed verge,
Or the distant cry of the crested crane,
These are the sounds that merge.
The sight of the distant Koru hills
Shimmering in the haze
Beyond the frangipani trees
Return once more to my gaze,
And the prickly spiky Crown of Thorns
That lined the garden ways,
These are the sights that ribbon back
From my early Kenyan days.
The smell of the room was a mixture
Of scents on the garden air,
And creosote coming up through the floor
From the pilings under there,
And paraffin from the pressure lamps
Which hissed as they gave us light.
With the hint of oil of pyrethrum
Sprayed round the eves at night.
The step to my door should I venture
At noon was as hot as a stove,
The soil on the paths and driveway
Would burn if ever I strove.
And the thorns in the earth would pr ick me
As I cautiously picked my way through
To the shade of the frangipani tree,
From there I took in the view.
So, when ever I touch the ground that’s hot
With the sole of my foot that’s bare,
I never fail to recall a time,
And the memory lingering there,
Of a day when I was just a boy,
Where the images I find,
Set smells and sights and sounds of
Africa sizzling in my mind.
Redding, California July 4th 2005 temperature 105° Fahrenheit
May 11, 2017
May 11, 2017 at 4:32 PM UTC
On a cotton-pyrethrum-rubber-sisal-canes plantations
In a coal, copper, iron, ores mines excavations
*** on hand, basket on back, metal bowl on head
Sun burning high as hell’s brutal blazes
Snow falling furiously as Vikings vitriol violence
Coal furnaces fuming as sulfurous fiery flames
Bent backs, bare butts, naked feet
White snow-balls quick picks
‘Niglets’ tagged besides or behind their parents spent backs
Bruised fingers, blistered hands, bleeding arms-palms
Boulder rocks rolls, bronze bowls lifts
Each sad with each, low grumbles
For master behind a beast is in watch
His scourging whip eager to swoosh
At any slight rubber swing switch
And leave a dear wound pain sorrowful only to oneself
Brothers sorrowful, tears rolls down
Their torn cheeks and chins
As thorns thrusts severe ****** his fingers
Swift he leaks sweet the crimson squirt before on fur-fluffs spills-
The white ***** is to be as pure as its breeds brands *****
And on he urges the pounding pains on
Brother damaged shoulders wracks
Tired feet him lags the long rugged wound up the mines holes
Sisters sad sobs, grimaces her faces
As thistles prickles her pretty arms-palms
Teary she withholds her agonies
The master is not supposed to see tears or tires
And on she begs her aches
For in the evening the mercy
Will be at the scales tilt
Not much the ****** and pains endured
Child on a pillory is crucified
And mum he watches with bitterness his helpless father
And big brothers molested-mistreated-mutilated hopelessly
Tied on trialing poles pain pulling his mangled muscles
Silent in pain she grieves irately her haplessly mother
And small sisters routinely ***** helplessly
Master is a monster who freely picks and haves who he wants
But as necessity knows no law!
Sufferings enough begins to bottle
Slowly struggles begins to battle
In ****** farms revolutions starts to swell
******* in noose and nooks dare their scares
Till liberty little returns ending
Barbaric brutality of spread slavery
And Negroes became a bit legal.....
© Kìùra Kabiri. All rights reserved.
Feb 28, 2017
Feb 28, 2017 at 4:01 AM UTC