The day for Wamathai Spoken Word is finally here and there are some things that i’d like to inform everyone.

There have been a few changes to the program as follows:

• The event will be hosted by  Dela
• The spoken word night will feature performances by Anyiko Owoko, Mike Kwambo, Wanjiku Mwaurah, Jemedari, Kevin Gachuma, Wanjeri Gakuru, Savvy Kenya, Wamathai and others.
• Music by Aziza & Mizizi The Band

The other details remain the same:

Venue: Secrets Lounge, View Park Towers, Downtown Nairobi
Date: 30 June 2010
Time: 7:00P.M. – 9:30P.M.
Charges: Kshs. 100

If you wont be able to make it to the event you can follow the proceedings by following Wamathai on twitter or by searching for the hash tag #wamathai on twitter. Pictures and videos taken during the event will also be uploaded at a later date.

Thank you for the support and encouragement and I hope to see you all there!!

Stuce is a two man band from Nairobi,Kenya featuring Mike Kwambo on lead vocals and Wachira the producer. Download their debut singles “Seventheaven” and “Uko Wapi” by clicking on the links below:

You picked me up like the breeze
Does the dried leaf on a tree
Rushed headlong with me
Wild, heedless and free

You whirled me around in the breeze
Of your love until reality’s gravity
Overcame you and me
And I found we could not be

You held me up in the breeze
Long as you could possibly
But the inevitable, evitable inanevitable
Pull of fate would not let you stay

You were my only one-the breeze
And now some love me with great gusts of lust
Or the slow trickle of those that love for they must
Yet for just,
A moment in your happy swirl
I’d give all the world…

© kevin gachuma

Congratulations are in order for you and your team for a year well spent for you have inspired the growth of creativity in young people in terms of poetry and short stories by providing a platform for them to share their work and ideas with the rest of the world.

Wamathai has not only shown us that it is possible to make a difference, he has also shown us that successes is mind set and if we observe and reflect and commit ourselves to giving our best
we will surely come out on top.

And to usher in another 365 days journey in style I dedicate this piece entitled “The Blank Page” also titled a writer’s poem to you and all the writers who submit their work to wamathai for I know from experience writing something on paper is never easy and collectively they have kept wamathai.com alive and to say the truth wamathai is where the good stuff is.

The Blank Page (A Writer’s Poem)

You’re my knight in shining amour
As when am with you I feel safe
And can utter anything without you complaining
When your white surface reflects upon my face I feel calmed
As I know you will never leave me
Or tell a soul what I bestow unto you

As your lines run across so
does my mind wander deep into it’s subconscious
Thinking of ways to beautify you
But being always faithful you never argue
Yesterday I used black today I’ve used blue
And tomorrow am thinking of red
You never cease to amaze me as you look good in all colours
As my pen glides onto your surface
A pattern forms with each stroke of the pen
Creating a master piece in its own way

© edward gichuho

It is a five letter word
It carries a lot of weight
Once broken
It is hard to mend
It is hard to get back on track.
Sometimes we do get it back
But it is damaged
Fragments have been lost
Time has been wasted
Thoughts have gone overboard
Words that should never have been said are spoken.
If something small happens
It triggers the past pain
The painful memories come flooding back
Once that happens
The love is corroded
A thought of you becomes acid
I did not look at another
I had internal issues
You looked at another
When I asked you to be patient
I am not perfect
But you have shown me
You may love me
And I may love you
I can never trust you
That means
The love I have for you
It is corroded and terminated
I can’t look at you the same way
When you break my trust
Slowly my love gets lost.

©thelma migue

Venue: Lola Kenya Screen Film Forum
Goethe Institute, Maendeleo House, Monrovia St
Date: Monday 28th June 2010
Time: 6:30 PM
Free Entry

Written & Directed by Mark Kaigwa alongside an amazing Cast & Crew, Dawa is a comedic look at a pair of conmen, grandfather & grandson in the big city pulling low-life scams to get by. The grandson, Shoke, gets ambitious and convinces his grandfather Guka to move back to the village where they pull of the biggest scam of their life, with some unexpected twists & turns.

The film’s running time is 9 Minutes, so there will be plenty of mingling time to spare.

the words of the wise, we need to own,
and delete anger, get reborn
a world with less hate, we need to reform
the emo’s mind,
erase the thoughts of suicide

and transform that frown
upside down
into a smile
that inspire peoples to walk for miles
instead of wishing they had better whiles

love music, love the arts,
aprreciate poetry that speaks to the heart
and separates the real, from the fake
better impressions we need to make

I said it before
No doubt i’ll say it again…

IT’S BIGGER THAN SIMILES AND VERBS AND PUNCTUATION MARKS
HOW CONSONANTS AND VOWELS MAKE SUCH AWE WORTHY WORDS…

and bring worlds together instead of apart
this one goes out to the arts.

© wairema mathenge

my thoughts drift to you, smile automatic
that new Mosdef tip, call me ecstatic
and i feel inspired to write more than bullshit rhymes
about walking miles,
for a while,
then go file,
my nails.
Or
reading the mail…
Jack and Jill carrying pails

beautiful, important part of art
it sounds cliche but fuck, you’re in my heart
how i communicate to the outside world
gundi yangu when i fall apart
Poetry.
how you capture me.
be it an ill emcee’s flow or a sonnet, Shakesphere
i get higher, different level, atmosphere
when i’m on that happy juice
you are the most sensual masseuse

from Maya Angelou’s poetic prowess
to Mr. D Angelo’s audible caress

peace is so hard to find
my constantly over-analyzing special mind

I go crazy
, wear a label,
schizophrenic lady
when things get unclear, visual hazy
when my demons fight and subdue me
when those sons of bitches blindfold and cuff me

i lost the need to sing, my voice
cancer sticks so hard to kick, my choice
when i’m tagged as weird, over-over eccentric
but through you i feel can connect with,
them
and they can understand the unheard
they can see a piece of my world
it’s bigger than similes and verbs and punctuation marks
how vowels and consonants make such awe worthy words

© wairema mathenge

Venue: Secrets Lounge, View Park Towers, Downtown Nairobi
Date: 30 June 2010
Time: 7:00P.M. – 9:30P.M.
Charges: Kshs. 100

Born in June 2009 as wamathai.blogspot.com, Wamathai.com started as a space for author Wamathai Warugongo to exercise his creative juices. Eventually, other authors joined the founder and started submitting original Kenyan poetry and short stories. Wamathai.com has since its humble beginnings crossed the 10,000 unique visitors mark. The site, now with 20 authors, is one of the few spaces on the Internet one can find a unique blend of fresh and exciting writing from Kenya from several creative genres.

Wamathai is turning 1 year old and will be hosting a celebration with its authors and several invited guests who will be performing some of the most popular pieces of poetry and creative writing. This will be happening at the Secrets Lounge in View Park towers in downtown Nairobi. Special guests to this event include popular afro fusion singer Dela , TV presenter and blogger Anyiko Owoko, Michael Kwambo from the highly respected poetry collective Mstari Wa Nne, Recording & Spoken Word Artist Jemedari, Spoken word artists Wanjeri Gakuru, Kevin Gachuma, Wanjiku Mwaurah and many more.

Live music for this celebration will be provided by Mizizi the band.

Visit the event page on facebook here (and invite your friends as well) or follow wamathai on twitter here for regular updates.

When I’m with you,
I wish that I was with him.
When you talk to me,
I wonder what he would have said.
When you hug me,
I feel his embrace.
When you look at me that way,
It’s him I see.
When I’m lying in your arms,
It’s his cologne I breathe through my nose.
When you kiss me,
I close my eyes and imagine it’s him.
When you want to make love to me,
I stop!! Because I’m afraid I might call out his name.

When he’s with me,
I’m just one of his many casual girlfriends.
When he talks to me,
He’s probably told another girl the exact same words last night.
When he hugs me,
It’s just a casual hug he’d give a workmate.
When he looks at me that way,
He’s just checking to see if he has perfected his skill yet.
When I’m lying in his arms,
He’s thinking about his next business deal.
When he kisses me,
He’s just doing it as a form of protocol.
When he wants to make love to me,
He just wants to satisfy HIS desires and needs.

© bella mauka