now since blkness can be a betrayal or
a shuttling blaze of glory rending the sky

since blkness can be a metaphor for deprivation
or a drumming beyond the shackle & the shove
created blk like vengeant spears
& greeting the sun in outstretched arms
where blk was the colour & caress of abysses
where blk was the razor clamour of inner decay
& meaning spat at us high white & dry
like an ache over kiliminjaro
the scowl of the sun & the sneer of the skies
lacerating mah history into a scarred holler

i was learning the sulphur smile of sneers
i was learning the jagged jig of fire
blood knotting into hate like the tall hearts
of ancestor maasai
melting into the purple nikon pose
of tourorist disca/dence
while herds slink into mouths of nairobi daggers
or the neon surfeit of bloo-eyed yoo-wes sailors
who can't get enough of mombassa's ochre thighs

we was born blk in a time & planet
where blk petered into absences & voids
where blk was the disco/dant melody
of the primal song of emptiness
that preceded rainbows & guerillas
a bleeding emptiness that burned mysteries
into the shallow hearts of feelanthropists
or a hasty scythe in the staccato palms
of mau mau gentlemen
with eyes like careless sharks
& hearts impatient like stubborn prophets

i was stumbling upon the rock of onelessness
up over the precipice where handshakes
triple hastily into hammers or typhoons
so the rampant slow kwashiorkor
of my histri books cd learn mud & manners
so the worm dancing cosy behind the razor wire
& the flooding blood in my i-eye cd learn
the sugar of winds & whips like all of us

in my head guerillas ecstatic
like storms or ash
it was biko like a yell of crosses
preaching deliverance from up on housetops
love to sprout blk & concrete compassion
from the festered cracks on the faces of slaves
from the punctured hearts of my loved ones

in my head
it was gahvi rolling hills & hurling boulders
over lies & cries
while in my heart amerikkka shrieked
her rotting din of deceit & conceit
her long fangs singing into rapine orgies
gahvi was a star rising over depths
chains & murder a ready skulk
as our hearts began the sure dance
of burning spears

for the masterplan is not a flag or two
up the invisible masts of rebirths
it's more than the solid pre-harmony
of shrieks & screams
as we holler our thunder over the wounds
it's not the comical contentedness
of your own bucketful of the ocean
love is in the receding wave of the heart
the cool slink from the rainbow
into the embrace of the mesenja

& though the ocean clamours into a roar
though the waters invoke the drowsy spirit
of thunder
the ocean is very shallow
a time short like loss
a mountain low like hate
the ocean is very shallow