Not in any dream, however nightmarish,
Did this unrehearsed play present a synopsis,
Once upon a TV show, from lands exotic,
Learnt of fog from sky’s polluted,
Today, a few yesterday’s, and more tomorrow’s,
This, be the mark of walks and stray paths,
Pariah, almost alien, definitely a tryst,
To deviate, or disobey, is doubly tragic,
For another’s safety depends on yours.
In these times, when every act of goodness counts,
Even the comic peer of yours truly,
Learning to see with blinkers,
To defeat a crass assault by a lurid spirit,
Stealthily laying siege of human health.
All for one and all.
Nancy Ndeke
@April 2020
It is befitting to name tag NANCY NDEKE as the African Poetic Tigress. The wealth in her poetic narratives and hybrid writing resemble a honeycomb clad with the earthly jacket of pure honey. The mind scorching metaphors are glued together social fabric matters and then stitched with humor concocted political vibe. Ndeke is a princess of rain and the daughter of the road. Her poetic footprints traverse from African foothills, through crevices and caves of great mountains of Kirinyaga into the mist clad mighty Kilimanjaro and the valleys yonder our human rich. The Poetic Tigress in Nancy Ndeke roars with the zeal to see the world dancing in spiritual glory, celebrating abundance and jiving to the gift of the sun and its kindred the moon. Exclusive. The lioness carved into the soul cave of this great literary combatant hunts for her twin sister PEACE in nooks, crevices and thickets of the world. Pen her torch and her poetry is her unfading light. Her literary eyes are oxblood because of the day and night search for her cousin Freedom. Ndeke is a prolific Kenyan Wordsmith, Editor, Literary arts projects consultant and a distinguished writer. She involved in the WOMAWORDS and Brave Voices Poetry JOURNAL as an African Associate and Contributing Editor. WOMAWORDS present to you our beloved readers to the Iconic, prolific and globally decorated Poet, Nancy Ndeke, Aluta Continua- WOMAWORDS eDitor.
INSIDE # CANDID TALK LOUNGE
WLP.You write every day and your literary deliverables and your verbal dexterity is unmatched. Explain how you achieve this amount of prowess.
#Thanks, CDE MBIZO CHIRASHA for your question. Well, for me, writing is a way of life by choice. I find lots to write about on a daily basis seeing that, that’s what gives me pleasure. I draw from personal inspiration, from local and international news and events, social issues around and about me, nature in all its glory and everything about life. The rhythm of life pulses through everything hence everything offers an opportunity to learn and write. In short, I have more to write than I have time for. And for the opportunity to be alive to this reality is something am grateful to my God.
WLP.How are you using your writings stories and poetry to change wrong perceptions in your communities?
#Really, I am a social commentator by virtue of my observations on social issues. Of course, I consider myself part of the social grouping as a human woman, and what goes around me touches me especially in the issues that demean the genders whichever they are. There is a lot on the plate of any individual who feels the need to stand with the vulnerable in any society. Writing about social injustices is my two cents contribution to a human cause that is endemic since most of the issues I write about are historical injustices against the genders. I try to highlight the good and excellent for purposes of emulation and castigate what needs to be changed for better. Africa, my continent is particularly needing in the area of gender biases that are deeply embedded in traditions that are way past their practical use date. These are often delicate matters that meet with resistance from die hard traditional enthusiasts. Still, what must be said must be said, and I try.
WLP. Do you sometimes facilitate life skills and creative knowledge to community youth and young writers in your region?
#Yes. I have had great chances to work with gifted youths interested in developing writing especially in poetry. That, the said youths were already in different Carrier paths and wished to delve in poetry for the love of the arts was one very motivating aspect of working with the said youths. I also have a few online young people that I work with basically in editing of their works and pointing a few areas of improvement. I find great joy in working with these small groups.
WLP. You write about so many things, almost everything about life and humanity and again you write across genres, how do you handle your writing studio, life and social requirements
#Well, life is diverse. As diverse as Nature, our emotions, seasons and global differences in terms of language, food, Faith’s and customs. Yet, in all its diversity, life in its simplest form just want to be experienced within certainty of simple joys, guaranteed safety, and among the integrated scope of loved ones.
So, nothing is in isolation. Not our hopes, aspirations, dreams or agendas. Everything touches everything else. An example I love about our connectedness as children of nature is the air, we breath. Whatever is breathed out by an animal, human or tree from one corner of the globe will at some point be breathed in by another from another land. To me that’s life feeding life interactions with itself.
As for the genres, what a poem may speak in short can be enlarged into a short story or a novella. It depends on the level of material one needs to inject in it and the expected outcome. I also like to experiment on other genres besides poetry. It’s part of my writing interests.
I like to think of myself as an involved observer in anything that interests me enough to commit to writing. Hence, while I may not exactly know the depths of a subject at a personal level, yet by observation and imagination, I can identify with the emotions that inform humanity on any subject. So, I write as one who feels the words and the situation lending the words.
WLP.What is your greatest Literary Arts achievement in your life?
#For now, what I consider my greatest arts achievement also doubles up as my greatest tragedy. In mid 2018, I lost my first-born son. Grief was overwhelming as it should. I sought isolation from all the familiar places and people. All that time, about six months when I also stayed off social media, I communed with nature, went back memory lane with my thoughts of my son and wrote a tribute to him in a book entitled “May the Force Be WITH You”. In it, I was able to voice all the emotions I went through for those first six months. Grieving never really ends just like love never ends or dies, but as time passes so does the reality of the permanence of death register. Still, writing held my hand at my all time lowest of time. Those days birthed a book, and in its memories of my son.
WLP .What are current local and international Projects and who are you working with?
#I have just finished an anthology of short stories centering on the theme of the current world pandemic and a few other stories. Am waiting for an opportunity to publish them and am glad to say a good write friend has given me an excellent review of the same. This year too, I did a collaboration with Prof. Gameli Torzlo of Glasgow University in Scotland on a unique poetic anthology entitled “ Mazungumzo Ya Shairi” a book that is registered with the Library of Congress in the USA and which was to be officially launched in Glasgow in March but for the COVID 19 pandemic and end of travel as the world has never known.
I am always stockpiling on poetry for besides the one or two poems I post daily on my wall, much more goes to stockpile.
WLP.How are you coping in these bad times of COVID 19 times and How are you helping your community in finding solutions and strength?
#First, I take it that am living and not just coping within these times. While travel is restricted and social distancing a must, I think my greatest contribution to my Community is that I have chosen to obey all the stipulated rules to prevent infection to myself and to others. I count my every day as a blessing and a miracle and do what’s within my ability to do without complaint knowing it could have been worse as evidenced by many Countries and people who are so adversely affected by this pandemic. I have established a personal routine that involves some exercise, writing time, rest, reading and touching base with friends and family. Where possible I help within my means and where not possible, I offer a prayer. From the experiences of our people, their reactions and fates, my new short stories anthology found its materials.
NANCY NDEKE , Poet of international acclaim and a reputable literary arts consultant.Her Writings and Profiles featured in several Collections, Anthologies and Publications including the American magazine Wild Fire, Save Africa Anthology. World Federation of Poets in Mexico. Ndeke is a Resident Contributor of the Brave Voices Poetry Journal since Mid-2018. African Contributor to the DIFFERENT TRUTHS- A publication that sensitizes the world on the plight of Autism edited by Aridham Roy. Ndeke’s Poetry and other Literatures in WILD FIRE PUBLICATION in America published by Susan Joyner Stumpf and Susan Brooke Langdon. ARCS MAGAZINE in New York Edited by DR. Anwer Ghani. Her Women in Arts Presentation was recently published by WOMEN OF ART (WOA) in Cape Coast in Ghana and in the Soy Poesia in Peru. Claudette V pg 11 featured her writings with great reception.AZAHAR from Mexico, with the initiative from Josep Juarez has also featured her poetry. She is also featured in WORLD FESTIVAL OF POTRY (WFP) from Mexico under the able editorial team comprising Luz Maria Lopez .INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN WRITERS from Nigeria, under the able hands of Munyal Markus Manunyi .Patricia Amundsen from Australia featured her poetry on this year’s international women’s day at Messenger of Love, Radio Station. Esteemed poetess Jolly Bhattacharjee featured my works on her greatly acclaimed awareness anthology for 2019, India.
TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC eDitor/Writer
(Chief Editor and Projects Curator)MBIZO CHIRASHA is the Poet in Residence at the Fictional Café (International publishing and literary digital space). 2019 Sotambe Festival Live Literature Hub and Poetry Café Curator. 2019 African Fellow for the International Human Rights Art Festival(https://ihraf.org/international-fellows ) , Essays Contributor to Monk Art and Soul Magazine in United Kingdom .Arts Features Writer at the International Cultural Weekly .Featured Writer Poet Activist at The Poet A Day(https://jamiededes.com/). Core Team Member and African Contributor to Bezine of Arts and Humanities(https://thebezine.com/) in USA. Flash/Short Fiction Writer for Squawk Back Publication(http://www.thesquawkback.com/2020/01/mbizo.html).Contributing Writer( Africa) to IHRAF Publishes-https://ihraf.org/ihraf-publishes.The Originator of the Zimbabwe We Want Poetry Campaign. Curator of MiomboPublishing Blog Journal(https://miombopublishing.wordpress.com/). Founder and Chief Editor of WOMAWORDS LITERARY PRESS. Founder and Curator of the Brave Voices Poetry Journal. Co-Editor of Street Voices Poetry triluangal collection( English , African Languages and Germany) initiated by Andreas Weiland in Germany. Poetry Contributor to AtunisPoetry.com in Belgium. African Contributor to DemerPress International Poetry Book Series in Netherlands. African Contributor to the World Poetry Almanac Poetry Series in Mongolia. His latest 2019 collection of experimental poetry A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT was released by Mwanaka Media and Publishing and is both in print, on Amazon.com and at is featured at African Books Collective. 2003 Young Literary Arts Delegate to the Goteborg International Book Fair Sweden (SIDA AFRICAN PAVILION) .2009 Poet in Residence of the International Conference of African Culture and Development (ICACD) in Ghana. 2009 Fellow to the inaugural UNESCO- Africa Photo- Novel Publishers and Writers Training in Tanzania. 2015 Artist in Residence of the Shunguna Mutitima International Film and Arts Festival in Livingstone, Zambia. A globally certified literary arts influencer, Writer in Residence and Recipient of the EU-Horn of Africa Defend Defenders Protection Fund Grant, Recipient of the Pen Deutschland Exiled Writer Grant. He is an Arts for Peace and Human Rights Catalyst, the Literary Arts Projects Curator, Poet, Writer, publicist is published in more than 200 spaces online and print.
Post published in: Faith