Is it Ebony, Mahogany or Maji ya Kunde?

your quiet african beauty

is it




ebony,




mahogany

or maji ya kunde
your complexion i mean
your under-stated kenyan beauty
stares back at us
from a tasteful snapshot
makes me wonder
why you did not
pursue those modeling auditions
your online one liners
mystify people
who do not know you
fascinates those of us who do

in a demi-monde of virtual flirters
one needs to log out
to get the real deal
one needs to go offline
to get in line
is this a poetic overture
is this a digital seduction note
is this a cyber pick up line
is this a literary adventure

facebook will never trump face time
facebook will never equal face to face
remember the sumptuous java house dinner
recall the carousing
with pilsners and black label
in an upstairs tavern
off the jeevanjee gardens

i admire your feisty, almost fierce independence
the way you have
eschewed your famous surname
and evaded the shadow
of your tall siblings
you wanna be you
for who you are
not for who you share bloodlines with

as i end let me say this
one day i hope to read
these lines of verse
with you listening
with your ironic quizzical gaze
across the coffee table
oriti masani
dwasi madichol,
ewe kiumbe mrembo
maji ya kunde

Onyango Oloo, August 7, 2009