Be aware, these words are naked. Be aware, these simple words are not written in ordinary ink but in tears and the sound of laughter. Be aware, these words are written in the throes of passion and in the bottoms of despair, that sometimes words was all I had. These words are sad and happy and sometimes both in equal measures.
Poems from the book:
Where are you?
Have you heard the Greek mythology
The creation tale of the white man
They say that humans
Were created
With four arms
Four legs
And a head
With two faces
Zeus the creator
Feared this being
Feared the power it might wield
So he split the creature
Into two separate halves
Now we live our lives condemned
Searching for our other half
Where are you
This other part of me
Where are you
Aswito Darling
Letter to my brothers
My brothers
My brothers from other mothers
My brothers
Brothers with whom we shared pain
Brothers circumcised together
Brothers bonded by pain
Of losing their foreskins
My brothers
Tell Aswito
That I am a man
That I am a full man
Tell her
That when my foreskin was cut
That I stared into the eyes of the initiator
Without flinching
Without shivering
Tell her
That I faced the pain
Like a full man
Tell her
That I am no stranger to pain
Tell her
That I am a man
That I am a full man
Tell her
That I am no stranger to shame
That once upon a time
I was a scrawny kid
That once upon a time
I was beaten
By my schoolmate
Before the eyes of my kid brother
Tell her
There is no shame
Greater that being comforted
By your kid brother
Tell her
That I was an ugly kid
With a head full of ringworms
That I had few playmates
That my head
Seemed to have small volcanic eruptions
Of ringworm wounds
Tell her
Of my school uniform
The one with yellow patches
To cover a naked buttock
Tell her
Of my second hand shoes
Made of patches of cloth and leather
Tell her
That I know of hunger
That our family
Once had an empty granary
Tell her
That I once slept
On an empty stomach
Tell her
That I know the pain
Of hunger tearing up your stomach
Tell her
That I know shame
Like the back of my hand
Tell her
That poverty
Was once my middle name
But now I'm saved
Tell her
That once upon a time
Pain was a friend of mine
That I have lost family and friends
To the angel of death
Tell her
That there is no pain
Greater than the passing of a loved one
Tell her
That even heartbreaks
Cannot surpass
The pain brought by death
Tell her
That I have been despised before
That I have known hate
Tell her
That I know of anger
Tell her
That I know of love too
Tell her
Of the love of African mother's
Tell her
She once beat me
As if she intended of murder
Tell her
That the love of African mother's
And the children they love
Is a complicated matter
That can never be understood
By the minds of strangers
Tell her
That when they said
To become a full man
You had to read their books
And pass their exams
Tell her
That I read well
That I passed their tests
Tell her
That I was admitted to university
And made something of myself
Tell her
That I became a man
That I am a full man
That I am a total man
Tell her