Essy The Poet

By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros OSF   I can swear I always thought my nape resembled my sister’s. It was the way the teacher rubbed grime off her dark neck. To prove a point. Her nape was so dark, darker than shiny tar. The darkness too was proof of dirt. Rubbed until it bled. If she showered enough, her nape would be fairer, said he. My sister showered and scrapped and soaked her nape, until it seemed scarped.   Until it got calloused and pimpled and jaggy. I started to hide my neck deep inside the collars folds. Until it was thought a disability. The tortoise, I was named. A new symptom too emerged with the withdrawal, nuchal rigidity. My sister now has children, brilliant, beaming and golden dark. Their napes pure and uncropped, I itch to touch. Now grown, I realize how black and dark are no measure of dirt. But I am so sad, the teacher died in ignorance, may be heaven will teach him. © December 2020  

  By Sr. Esther Jeruto Koros  OSF She got into a wedlock, blissful and peaceful, or so it seemed. But, don’t count on it, it didn’t last long, got doomed. It is not what you can guess, that broke in between. Not a being, a woman who snuck and stole his heart. Not a being, a man who stole a carnal glance at her.                                                                                      Not a foolish habit, a drinking spree for instance.     A few months elapsed, and nobody gasped, It is always the older women who start stuttering ‘isn’t there a deposition already? Why the flat tummy?’ May be Shoot is not actually a good shooter, missing targets. They lamented feebly, voices subdued, all conjured. But a man is never guilty of such.   Across the fence, voices crept in, accusing her. ‘Did you kill some? Stuffed into a pit latrine? Or may be sold your womb to the Chinese venders? Or may be swallowed too many pills And now the pills are billi

Wisdom was so lazy coming to me. Like the midday shade of dwarfed stones, so reluctant. It finally did,      Brought with it a mirror. ‘What took you so long?’ I asked. ‘I was waiting for you to do as much look my direction, You hardly ever glanced. I was on the way all this while awaiting as much as a glance.’ It didn’t matter anymore. Wisdom got here; slowed me down too. Just as well, I keep wondering; What was the rush? I haven’t grasped half the answers but I am sure of one thing: This embrace is forever. © December 2020 0726179789  essyjeru@gmail.com