Monday, March 28, 2011

THIS IS MY COLOR


My color is green as envy,
Green for health,
Green for wealth
The green of life.
I am alive.
I feel every emotion
With every bodily motion,
 I know I live.
Every breath I take is confirmation that I am human.
Every time I blink,
Each time I think,
I celebrate my existence.

My color is blue,
Blue as water,
Blue as calm.
I yearn to be refreshed with food for the soul,
To quench my thirst for knowledge
With intellectual conversations or challenging confrontations.
Steadfast and firm
Light and calm
Blue is my color.

Sometimes I am yellow
Cheerful and happy
Bright
Warm
Loud
Yellow as sunshine.

Purple is my color
A sign of nobility and spirituality.
Unique in my own way,
Proud of my individuality
I respect the Supreme authority;
The Lord Almighty.
I am His and because of this, I am part of a royal blood line.
Purple as mysterious,
Never too close,
I keep my distance
A stranger to the closest of my friends,
I am purple.

Black is my skin,
Inconsistent yet beautiful,
Black as darkness,
Black as night.
Contrary to popular belief,
My black is not evil,
My black is flawless,
My black is African
Strong
Bold
Courageous and playfully rebellious.
I am black.

I am not defined by a rainbow
Directed by a skillful composition of colors
My color is chaotic.
A mix of dangerous red,
Girly  pink,
Tranquil turquoise,
Earth  brown,
Fierce orange.
My color is complex,
Complicated,
Misunderstood.
This is my color.




Thursday, February 24, 2011

Diary session

I rarely make public what's going on in my mind but today I feel inspired and just want to share my thoughts. The past week has been one of my toughest in the year. I have found myself fighting an inward battle- a battle with myself. It's so much easier to have a war of words with someone other than yourself because that way you can simply walk away but when it's with no one but you, how do you escape?

I can't quite describe the punches that I have thrown or the blows that I have received but I can tell you what Ive learnt from it all. There is a lesson to be learned in everything after all, isn't there? I have been forced to remember two invaluable life lessons: 1) We decide our own failure  2) everything in it's time.

1) We decide our own failure

Like 73.5 % of this population (I just made up that statistic to sound cool) I hate failure! I can't stand to see myself fail and  therefore tend to shy away from things that I know I'm bound to expose my utter lack of skills in. Once I sense that I am no good at something, I quickly abandon it before there is any evidence that I suck at it. Sounds pretty lame, but it is the 100% truth.

For the past 6months or slightly more, I have been writing and sending out job applications or what we call "tarmacking" here in Kenya. I'm sure the applications I've sent could easily out number 50. Yes, 50! Out of these 50 or so, applications, I've gotten less than 5 responses, 2 face-to-face interviews, 1 phone interview and 1 unattractive job offer. Pretty demoralizing, huh?

Luckily enough, I'm not completely unemployed, I have a job that keeps me going. It's been so easy to get myself into a 'pity-party' wondering if I am good enough and if I'll ever become that high-powered corporate woman I envision myself to someday be. I've been very tempted to just give up and settle for less. 

Two days ago, I read a speech that completely changed my perception. It made me realize that whereas a fantastic job offer, an opportunity for high-pay, great benefits or exciting 'work' was what I was looking for, there was so much more that I had already found. In the process of writing out my endless number of applications, I re-discovered my passion for words, my thirst for knowledge and the unusual 'kicks' I get from reading articles, stories, facts or news. I've been able to travel on a journey of self-discovery and appreciation. I may feel and seem like a failure but I would not for a second trade all that I am learning for anything else. My journey isn't failure. I have been able to turn a taunting experience to a learning experience. I still may not have gotten that job that I want but I have been re-introduced to myself. Everyday I am learning new things about who I am and what I love. It's scary but it's also very exciting. The fact that I haven't yet found a job does not mean that I have failed or that I am heading to failure, it simply means that...

....2) Everything happens in it's time 

I wish I could start this paragraph with saying that my long wait has finally come to something. Reality is, it hasn't. I have every reason to loose hope and quit searching but I won't and you know why that is, because every great leader that there is in history has had to wait. For some it was a matter of days, others it was months or years but eventually, their tireless efforts led to something wonderful. My efforts will lead to something wonderful. I might have to wait another couple of days, or months not because God enjoys seeing me struggle but because I am not yet the person I need to be to get what I deserve. I'm still being modeled and shaped into who I need to be before I can go and conquer the world. Everything happens in it's time.




This election

Eager I was to cast my vote,
"The people's choice", that's what he wrote. 
Barely impressive
But still somehow persuasive.
5am in line to make history. 
Whether he'd win was still a mystery. 

24years we had spent in misery
Everything chaotic and in disarray
The poor were oppressed 
and the rich depressed
We needed a change
Before we became deranged.

This election
Was more than a selection
It was a hope of liberation.
Our participation
In the making of this decision
Could help build a vision
For our nation.





 





Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Heart

You feel your heart pound persistently against your chest
It t feels as though it is aching to be set free
From the cage you call you chest.
The blood it pumps feels hot inside your veins.
it ruthlessly forces its way through your reluctant constricted vessels.
you can feel the resistance from way inside of you.
Your palms leak of f some sweat
Your armpits too.
You lift your heavy arms to reach your torso for a feel of the pace your heart sets.
Thump.
            Thump
Thump.
It seems to be slowing down with every additional beat.
You feel light headed now.
Your try and focus your gaze through the screen of tears formed in your eyes.
It gets harder and harder
The strain intensifies
You can barely see now.
You feel yourself loosing all control of your body
Your mind can no longer direct.
As your head touches the ground
You realize it’s all over.


Looking for inspiration

I've been struggling to write for a while now. I feel as though I have no story to tell but that isn't true. I have so many unspoken words resting within me that cannot be expressed vocally. I just don't know how to let all these thoughts out in a way that is coherent and comprehensive. May be I'm trying too hard. I ought to just let my fingers meet the keys of my computer with ease as my mind  feeds instructions of the letters to press. 

All I seek right now is to be it happy, sad, angry or even anxious. I'm not wishing for a calamity or hoping for a disaster but looking for an event. An event of harmless chaos or intense pleasure; an event of boiling anger or blissful peace. Is it wrong for me to search for inspiration in this way?

I'm looking for inspiration. 
Just looking for inspiration.