Elyas Mulu Kiros: “Bonito y Sabroso”, “Winter Blues” and “Genuine Street”
Posted: January 7, 2014 Filed under: Elyas Mulu Kiros, English Comments Off on Elyas Mulu Kiros: “Bonito y Sabroso”, “Winter Blues” and “Genuine Street”
Elyas Mulu Kiros
“I just want to say…” (Winter Blues)
.
“I am by the window:
Observing rapid snowflakes falling,
On the concrete
Outside this cold apartment,
Without sticking.
.
I just want to say
That the view makes me think
Of the days and nights
We used to spend cuddling
To keep each other warm;
But that is now a memory
I keep, locked in a room,
Deep inside this melancholic heart.
.
Dear, I may have contributed more
to your unhappiness and less
to your joy, but I just want to say
You always have a special place
in my heart—
Whether you believe me or not.
I mean it.”
.
After writing that letter
On a mental paper,
He folded the paper
And then put it in a mental envelope—
Only to mail it to a mental fire
That burned it before
He picked a real pen and paper.
.
He then just played Winter Blues,
Waiting for inspiration.
. . .
“Bonito y Sabroso”
.
Sometimes life may be just so so
But it is also bonito and sabroso.
Look at it through young eyes.
Should you believe not this:
Sometimes life may be dull and tart
But it is also beautiful and sweet.
Feel it with a young state of mind.
Should it grow old, embittered?
Never stop learning – Continue balancing.
. . .
“Genuine Street”
.
Let you & I meet
half-way on Genuine Street.
Only then may we create a space
that may help us
reshape or challenge
our fixed or biased
self-other-awareness.
.
Otherwise, if we just wait
for the other to come meet us
in our comfort zone
and expect him or her to change,
then we must not be genuine
or serious.
. . .
All poems © 2013 Elyas Mulu Kiros
. . .
Elyas Mulu Kiros is an Ethiopian poet living in New York City. He writes in English and in Amharic. He keeps a WordPress site called Kweschn: Horn of Africa and Beyond. http://kweschn.wordpress.com/
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