Urban Time vs. Rural Time
3 am:
Urban time: Alarm clocks, hoots and toots
Rural time: Cocks crow, cows moo and weavers beaker
4 am:
Urban time: Whoever snoozed the alarm? Dress up… very scarcely
Rural time: Dust the mat; grab yesterday’s very hard ugali and into overall
5 am:
Urban time: Marikiti and Gikomba beat traffic – rush hour
Rural time: Milking and feeding; early bird catches the worm
6 am:
Urban time: Office not open, tarts hover at Koinange zonked with sleep
Rural time: Coffee farm supervisor calls out names – mine missing
7 am:
Urban time: Offspring sings national anthem in academy playfully
Rural time: Sibling barefoot sings “Yesu anipenda” without blasphemy
8 am:
Urban time: Yaaaawn! Hate work before it even begins – so monotonous
Rural time: Tea baskets at back, yard stick in hand, water jar on head
9 am:
Urban time: What took company tea so long? Was tea boy fired or what?
Rural time: Sing Mary oh, sing Mary oh… Market women return with empty baskets
10 am:
Urban time: Finally the tea is here… (Chit chat) I love this job!
Rural time: The sun’s scorching – take a breath beneath shade
11 am:
Urban time: Silence and whispered gossip, functional smiles and fake hugs
Rural time: Shout greeting from ridge to ridge and insults from bush to bush
12 pm:
Urban time: Yaaaaaawn! Bad date - fear the approach of the next hour
Rural time: Any one with a watch? The sun has hid beneath the cloud
1 pm:
Urban time: Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures – am dieting…
Rural time: Carry produce to factory, take a nap in the wilderness, and water the livestock
2 pm:
Urban time: Oh how I hate this! Parliament session on, but ethics dictate TV without volume
Rural time: Women plot today’s chama as men discuss the local barmaid’s “possessions”
3 pm:
Urban time: Who tampered with the office clock? I can see some hawkers outside…
Rural time: Tamper with the scale to increase my produce’s sale
4 pm:
Urban time: Bus fare hikes and traffic builds up as conductors (mis) control the traffic
Rural time: Women fetch firewood on their way home, men stop by the shops
5 pm:
Urban time: Happy to overlap, wishing those overlapping matatus meet Officer Kipng’etich
Rural time: Feet and hooves erode dust like matching Zulu soldiers
6 pm:
Urban time: Men (if home) for remote, women for the house girl’s neck and children for homework
Rural time: Put up fires to boil arrow roots and some bitter herbs or leaves before chama
7 pm:
Urban time: News, views and reviews on your channel your choice rated best by synnovate
Rural time: Men around community radio discussing politics and new constitution
8 pm:
Urban time: Cuando seas mia as thugs from Huruma and Kayole crop into city centers
Rural time: Men grasp illicit liquor around Papa Shirandula; women busy the hell out of the kitchen
9 pm:
Urban time: Yaaaaawn! Prime time news… the same ones at 7 pm, but sound different
Rural time: School children are through with chores, homework starts with or without pencil
10 pm:
Urban time: Save for the clubs and pubs, clandestine, hypocritical sweeties and darlings, all is quiet
Rural time: Dad is back; supper’s too sweet so he batters mum that children scream
11 pm:
Urban time: Some mild mugging, police harassment and handbag snatching
Rural time: Mum, dad and all reconcile – family smiles again
12 am:
Urban time: Police cars patrol everywhere – at this hour, Pope on the road is any crook
Rural time: Save for the sparrow, whose nest was destroyed by the boys, everything sleeps
1 am:
Urban time: Late night drunkards bang the flat’s gate recklessly
Rural time: Sleep walkers, witches and watchmen watch over the village
2 am:
Urban time: One more fart in the blankets and you wake up the alarm - rerun
Rural time: Beds creek as husbands force wives to go glory hallelujah - rerun
poem by David Munene wa Kimberly
Added by Poetry Lover
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
No comments until now.