Nairobi is a quick lover

First flash: a business-bright billboard smile;

A suit far too neat for the jam on Jogoo Road;

A suit too well knit, too well fitting, too good

For anyone real.

Then he moves- inside the billboard-

Two steps forward, one to the side

Hand glides out of pocket with a slide

Phone. Best leg forward. Pose.

(") Pause.

Nairobi stops to watch, to save to memory

This magic of a man - perfection personified.

This memory merges with others in vogue:

The hunky hero on movie magic,

A one-time White House guest turned iconic,

The muscled advert-face relic

And any other on any magazine

In Nairobi or any city else.

(>) Play

Feet fall close in a life so fast paced-

Nairobi eyes are bewitched with contact allergy

Like a bad case of cross-eyes.

They are busy eyes.

Shoulders meet hard and repel

Jostling for that wear; that look

Dying to catch Mr. Nairobi's eye-

Actually dying.

 When he breathes,

women save for steam irons

For the latest tights on watched weights.

The gyms pack full, lunch spots close shop.

When Nairobi raises his eyes

Women raise their hems.

 Boutique prizes shift-up.

Credit  firms reach-out to you, brother:

A thousand eyes eying a single image

With similar need, fast-bred greed-

To have a neat lawn- by a street swept daily at dawn

To park in the mezzanine- a concept car.

 (Property agents drop bellies fast.)

To have the next technology now. Now!

The Messaging-optimised E-series with 4G

For sms, for facebook and for flashing with glee!

Or the 2TB HDD, 8GB RAM, 3.2 Ghz Core i7

For single-finger snail-typing,

gaming and getting you the 'Lo!'

From that impossible work mate -

Never mind the fortune

Nairobi likes you looking great!

And anyways, for the neighbour's eye,

What’s too dear to buy?

Be it a tool or a ruse!

Mustn’t you pay for but hardly use

In Nairobi?

In the catch-my-eyes dance

Ubuntu dies and is buried at Kimathi's feet,

To keep stillborn uhuru company.

But Nairobi's a walking city,

Or a one-train-a-day affair,

Matatus shuttling at capacity,

In a jam with single-occupant cars,

And for a single moment, you look like him-

Or right for him.

You are ecstatic, you are Nairobi!

 Or Nairobi's newest whore

Angel-looking

High-heeled

Sleek-suited

UAE-cologned

On-demand smiling

Junk-fed

Over-worked

Overspending

Man and woman.

Nairobi will bed you quick!

Then fire you

Then sue you for bankruptcy

Then auction your concept car

Then you hit the road -

A truly fulfilled fool!

Heaven and Earth, I want it all!

 I need to find love, to catch it and hoard,
To check it like a king on a chessboard;
I need to fly blind like an arrow,
To free-fall for someone, like...oh,
Like the sun needs to rise tomorrow

I need to go crazy, to look straight stupid.
Yet in that abandon, find favour in cupid.
And I want, oh so much to be found
Like a falling leaf needs the ground.
 
I want too to succeed, to lift my head above
Like the boldest bull in the herd;
In my time I want to have conquered
Popular opinion, fame and political love;
I crave to pause where I leave my mark
And like Ozymandias say, “Look on my work!”
 
I hope that in the cycle of time I have risen
From the ugly forms wherein my soul's been a denizen,
Through gleaming gold, dirty iron and forsaken earth,
That the past is punishment and this, my final birth.
I wish in time to run free- a spirit
Unbound in form and loving it,
I want to be with the best spirits you can find-
Like the high, the gentle and the forever kind.

But then stronger grows my hunger for money
I cheat and play low tricks on you every day, honey,
I kiss you with my lips while my hands pick your pocket;
I swindle and sell friendship for a one-way ticket!

Oh but I want it all- fame and fortune, peace and quiet,
To escape without a scrape and be the hero yet!
And like a camel's love for pasture here and heaven there
This relentless wanting wears my soul bare!