Mulumba Ivan Matthias is a Ugandan author living in Kampala, Uganda. He is a valuation surveyor by profession. He is the author of a collection of poems, Poetry In Motion, published in 2012. His poetry and short fiction have been published in The Kalahari Review, Readers’ Café Africa, Africa Book Club, Munyori Literary Journal and Lawino Magazine. You can see more of his work on his blog http://mimulumba.wordpress.com/.
Spotlighting Pan-African Poetry
Biography
I want
I want to cry
as I did once,
snuggle to my mother’s bosom,
report the landlord
that bangs on my door before dawn
demanding rent,
the terrible boss
always screaming orders at me,
the impatient creditors…
I want to yell,
release to the world my agony.
I want to be soothed with kisses,
to be told all will be well.
But what man will that make me?
Mulumba Ivan Matthias
Featured Poem:
My Palestine & When Nobody is Watching
MY PALESTINE
My home is in ruins
every brick I laid
has crumbled to the earth
from which it was baked.
Guns are spitting,
bombs raining down
onto temples of worship,
onto my home,
my war torn home.
Blood is flowing
from shambles I called home,
pools I once drank from,
places where I found joy!
I’m tired of rebuilding,
tired of cleaning,
burying my people
in my home,
my Palestine.
WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING
I’ve been abused
yet I’m accused
of infecting a nation.
Here I sit
without affection:
weeping, grieving,
not for death
or lives lost
but friends and family
to whom I’m dead.
I’m a worker of the streets
standing in the shadows
selling affection.
Here, I stand,
to survive.
Why the disgust then?
Why look at me so?
Is it because I attach a price
to the services I give?
Or because I let the world know
that this is what I do
rather than disguise it
as a loose life?
Why the faces?
Why the murmurs?
Why?
When this is what you do
when nobody is watching.
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Biography
Mulumba Ivan Matthias
Biography
Mulumba Ivan Matthias is a Ugandan author living in Kampala, Uganda. He is a valuation surveyor by profession. He is the author of a collection of poems, Poetry In Motion, published in 2012. His poetry and short fiction have been published in The Kalahari Review, Readers’ Café Africa, Africa Book Club, Munyori Literary Journal and Lawino Magazine. You can see more of his work on his blog http://mimulumba.wordpress.com/.
I want
I want to cry
as I did once,
snuggle to my mother’s bosom,
report the landlord
that bangs on my door before dawn
demanding rent,
the terrible boss
always screaming orders at me,
the impatient creditors…
I want to yell,
release to the world my agony.
I want to be soothed with kisses,
to be told all will be well.
But what man will that make me?
Featured Poem:
My Palestine & When Nobody is Watching
MY PALESTINE
My home is in ruins
every brick I laid
has crumbled to the earth
from which it was baked.
Guns are spitting,
bombs raining down
onto temples of worship,
onto my home,
my war torn home.
Blood is flowing
from shambles I called home,
pools I once drank from,
places where I found joy!
I’m tired of rebuilding,
tired of cleaning,
burying my people
in my home,
my Palestine.
WHEN NOBODY IS WATCHING
I’ve been abused
yet I’m accused
of infecting a nation.
Here I sit
without affection:
weeping, grieving,
not for death
or lives lost
but friends and family
to whom I’m dead.
I’m a worker of the streets
standing in the shadows
selling affection.
Here, I stand,
to survive.
Why the disgust then?
Why look at me so?
Is it because I attach a price
to the services I give?
Or because I let the world know
that this is what I do
rather than disguise it
as a loose life?
Why the faces?
Why the murmurs?
Why?
When this is what you do
when nobody is watching.
I want
I want to cry
as I did once,
snuggle to my mother’s bosom,
report the landlord
that bangs on my door before dawn
demanding rent,
the terrible boss
always screaming orders at me,
the impatient creditors…
I want to yell,
release to the world my agony.
I want to be soothed with kisses,
to be told all will be well.
But what man will that make me?
Ooooh Mathias has a great talent in written speech…..his book poetry in motion, I have read it over and again..never tired of it