Expelled by Jared Angira

We had traded in the market competitively perfect
till you came in the boat, and polished goodwill
approval from high order
all pepper differentials, denied flag-bearers

and cut our ribs, dried our cows
the vaccine from the lake
burst the cowshed, the drought you brought
planted on the market place, the tree of memory

I had no safe locket to keep my records
when Sodom burnt and Gomorrah fell
the debtor’s records blared
the creditors tapped my rusty door

My tears flowed to flooded streams
and source the rivulets from my human lake
from my veins, my heart my whole
disposition of the last penny
the last sight of my fishing-net

Everyone avoids my path; I avoid death’s too
pursuit in a dark circus
the floating garden in a gale
plants reject sea water, the sea water rejects me

I have nothing to reject
the broken lines run across my face
The auctioneer will gong his hammer
for the good left behind

Jared Angira

Jared Angira is a Kenyan poet who was born on 21st November, 1947. Because of the significance ofhis works to the recognition of Kenyan poetry, he is seen as Kenya's first truly significant poet.