Written piece
The Ballads of the Forgotten Alleys.(Poem)
Laban Mtware
Kenya
About this piece
The Ballads of the Forgotten Alleys poem is a call to stop seeing the slums as physical geo spacial realities but as spaces with real human beings ,requiring human centered design thinking innovations that acknowledge the humanity of the slums.They are human too.
The Ballad of the Forgotten Alleys.
©Mtware Laban
Rusting tin roofs, squeeky doors for shelter,
Gulleys overflowing with filth , women and children jumping helter skelter,
Stray dogs jostle ,access to the meandering paths,
Quest for survival ,away from the slum dwellers wrath.
Men sit huddled around the old metal tin pot,
Sipping the “ busaa “ drink,in a bid to escape life so hot.
Blank eyes silently staring absentmindedly at a spot only they know,
Hopelessness wrapped up in the cacophony , past testimonies outlawed by the now.
A scream and shouts Thief,Thief, in the dark meandering alleys,
Passive dwellers go about their survival, victims have no allies,
Broken jungle, broken spirits that know violence,nothing here new,
An old transistor radio comes to live,ears jostle for the lunch time news.
United Nations expands its offices in Nairobi,commentator reads out,
Change the channel, anonymous voices shout,
Effective implementation of SDGs,the news castor continues,
More shouts ,more movement ,more noise,bulletin discontinues.
A crowd gathers , kicks and blows rain down,
Man and woman exchange violence, each claiming the truth they own.
Children cry shout ,pick brocken glass bottles,
The girl siding with the side her dresses it toggles,
The boy child emotionless ,away walks and wobbles,
Buns burn in the oil, near an overflowing pit latrine,
Slum confusion some say can only be written in latin,
Food for the road, pocket friendly for survival,
Though for the starving and hunger riden it is for revival.
Bulldozers roar,slum upgrading they call it,
The smart politician walks, careful to avoid the shit,
Patriotism equity and equality ,loudly he proclaims,
The slum dwellers watch over remains,their only claim
Gods must be crazy,so the movie said,
The politicians crazier, yet so heavily paid,
Slum state, republic of no hope no right,
Broken,lawless ,hopeless , always loosing without a fight.