Shopping ShotsByWanjohi wa MakokhaAn unknown person shot / at a Gaza bookshop / thrice:First in the shelves / Beneath the eaves / With a nest of dovesThen in the cracked corner / Where a mosque mouse / head’s a home of oneFinally, in the floor / Where a wasted mat / Now mourns its userYes. Three shots read / A summary of Gaza / In staccato. The air they like / Now is a playground full / Of sirens, loud silences tooWho are these that walk / In the shadow of silences / Past a pandemic billboard / Bearing nothing but faith? / Which long before this day / Spoke of a land so far away / That it made poets die for itThe road to Gaza is painful / It promises rain to a desert / The road to Gaza is painful / It offers blood to the thirsty / Who plies it today as death? The sun sails the blue skies / Yes a poet pays tribute to it / The moon dances with night / Yet the road to Gaza goes on / Slowly it drifts from DamascusWanjohi wa Makokha is the sobriquet of JKS Makokha, a Kenyan poet and author of Nest of Stones: Kenyan Narratives in Verse (2010)

Source: The Star May 29, 2021 01:52 UTC