how?

How do they do it?
Is it a morning coffee accompaniment?
It might offer something as smooth,
or as bitter as that coffee-
depending on your continent…and coffee of choice).
Or maybe it’s the 10 o’clock tea:
One scone of foolishness,
with some parliamentary raise jam to go please…
Or the side dish to their 1 o’clock lunch,
leaving time to formulate a response,
the length proportionate to the fora
140 characters is it? or however long you can hold
your fb audience for- but there’s probably a blog too…

My mum asked me how I kept up with news,
face knit with worry –
2 weeks of senior week before graduation,
were too much to be away
from the day to day affairs
of the place she knows – home.
I remember once worrying too,
at some point,
that I was losing touch.
I no longer had my finger on the pulse
of the city I claimed as mine.
Then I settled for facebook posts,
from ‘friends’ and news-stations,
and vague allusions to vindeos and ndramas…
in saidi mbaya sana,
that had me wondering
what the latest saga of humour and suffering was,
kuzubaa nayo!

When phone calls home
– and home is oceans away –
are stolen minutes
where more is left unsaid
than said.

And no, you didn’t forget to ask
what was on the news.
But you laughed yet again,
when mum asked if it was raining.
How do I do it?