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 up-shift.
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!
A truly fulfilled
fool!
