Sunday, October 23, 2011

Mavuno // Harvest -- October 18, 2011


WORDS – THE ABUNDANT HARVEST//Said Suleiman

What else should we sow
if it is not word?
for the harvest of it
is greater than any-
greater than many-
sweeter than honey-
worthier than money-
Let us sow words
to harvest wisdom
to spread education
to implant awareness
to inspire peace and justice
to inculcate a sense of democracy
Let us sow words
to draw happiness
out of miseries
because words are music
with natural rhythm and beat
words are world
make it go round
words are weapon
with two-side effects
either to save or harm you
then sow words to save you.
If we are to harvest love
then let us sow words
for words grow into
emotions, reactions and actions
but if we are to harvest hatred
then put only one word
into a wrong sphere
and you will be damned!
Right here at Maneno
let us sow words
to harvest the sweet fruit of words.
                                                                             

WASTED HARVEST//Said Suleiman

“Life is what you make it”?!
No, such saying doesn’t apply in this neighborhood
where only a half of a half number of graduates are employed
only to earn a half of a half of the money they should be earning!
Life determines who you are to be
for you might choose and learn to be a doctor
but only to end up selling potatoes at the market!
A graduate psychotherapist earns his living through fishing
as if there are no mental disorder cases in the neighborhood!
A degree holder in mechanical engineering
runs a hand-hoe farming at Kibondeni village
soon to forget that he carries the title of engineer!
A renowned lawyer with master degree
shot dead his 14-year-old pregnant house girl
for he was too ashamed
of having a child from a child-house-girl!
An eleven-year-old child selling fresh fishes in the streets
at the time she is supposed to be in a class room
her mind is too much occupied with bread-winning
rather than reading alphabets
after all, she can’t put alphabets on a table
and slice them into bread-like pieces
and pick them with fork to make her belly full.
Religious leaders found selling cocaine
it’s a harvest from holy books of today
for in these books, cocaine prescribed as a dose for pneumonia!
So many resources we have in this neighborhood
but we gain less than half of the harvest
the remaining is taken to abroad
the harvest is too abundant for the neighborhood
so that it has to be taken to somewhere else!
A very beautiful woman sells her body
for she is too much beautiful
to give herself for free to a one faithful husband!
We lost one Nobel winner to gain others new
but it still a big loss
for the other new ones won’t plant a single tree
and there won’t be a 5000-tree-planting-farewell for their departure.
A doctor found raping 12-year-old-girl in a public hospital
seven-year-degree course in medicine
changed him into a sex addict
it perhaps has to do with seeing too much
of females’ nudity in the operating theatre
now, jail is his only seven-year-long harvest!
Africa! a neighborhood of the abundant harvests!


ZENJ HARVEST//Thomas Green

Come October and November time
A waft of spice acrid yet sweet fills the air.
It is penetrating to the senses, yet savory mouthwatering to the senses.
Pass by the port warehouses and the aroma grows overpowering still
Where bags pile high with the pungent precious spice.
Journey along the thoroughfares and remote country roads,
It is there you will catch the dominating scent once more.
Where hand-woven mats do line the way, there festooned,
Piled one finger deep with brightly colored buds,
Cloves soon to grow more black than the men who brought this bounty.
Stems with red and green tiny flower buds
Set out to dry in the hot sun peeking through a cotton candy sky
Dotted with clouds that keep the Sun’s otherwise fiery orb
Bearable and pleasant in the blue heaven above.
The show of so many mats side by side,
laid out as if to show off their bountiful harvest.
Nearby too are the huge lush Mango trees,
Palm trees that dot and often crowd upon each other.
The husks of so many coconuts piled not far away
Where a bare-chested man with a white cloth about his waist toils.
He is as black as soot and dripping rivulets of sweat
Stream down his muscular angular frame.
His brow and body gush from his arduous labors.
Time after time he impales whole coconuts upon a sharp metal spike
Shredding the husks into ever growing mountains of shredded fibers.
One pile for the husk, One pile for the virgin nut.
Such is the marvelous scene at the harvest of Zanzibar cloves,.
They lazily dry under a hot tropical sky
On this Spice Island, by some called Zenj.

 GARDEN OF IDEAS // Collaborative MANENO poem

Equality.
Enhance.
Patience.
I will wait for my right time and not to push things faster.
Motivation.
Make people aware of all their possibilities.
Listen.
Peace, love and understanding.
Empathy.
Really feel someone else’s loss.
Peace/Salama.
Help others wherever you can.
Embrace that every negative has a positive. Learn from your mistakes.
Transforming the rain in confetti.
(Looking at the bright side of life).
Forgiveness.
To cultivate forgiveness, we need to remember our own faults and how we need to be forgiven too.
Trees.
To make more trees in the world, sing a tree song and smash the cars.
Trust.
Assume, first, the purity of other’s intentions.
Faith.
Trust that every life experience happens for a reason.
Honor.
Don’t lie to yourself and to others.
Creativity/Ubunifu
Lose our self-consciousness and be fearless.
Compassion.
To make decisions of other people.
Confidence.
Every day, when you wake up, take a look at yourself in the mirror and reaffirm one thing you do well and shout it out with pride. Keep that moment in mind every time you doubt yourself throughout the day!

 UNTITLED // Julia Bishop

Good soil, good seed
Well watered no weed
Protect from pest, from sun that burns
Guarantees you rich returns
And just like crops
People need light
They need hope
To grow up bright
They must be nourished
Not left in the dark
To make them wise,
Curious, brave..and sharp.
So mama dear, have two or three
Less is more, you must agree,
But school them well, teach right from wrong
And then we'll reap a harvest strong.