Wanjohi Wa Makokha

Nest of Stones. Kenyan Narratives in Verse Wanjohi Wa Makokha

Wanjohi wa Makokha's Nest of Stones is the second book of poems, since the publication of Sitawa Namwalie's Cut off my Tongue (Storymoja: 2009), devoted in principal to the moment of the 2007-2008 Kenyan Crisis. The crisis is locally known as the Post-Election Violence (PEV). The book collects over sixty pieces of his recent verse chosen on the basis of artistic merit and social relevance. The poems focus sharply on the tumultuous period between the General Elections of 2007 and August 4th Referendum of 2010. Some of the poems relate to events drawn out of earlier moments in Kenyan history but are invoked as contexts of the recent discord. Wa Makokha's interesting narratives are written in the form of lyrical folk verse. The verses are poignant vignettes, out of experiences of different communities and regions of Kenya, serving as repositories of the memory of a tumultuous moment in the life of a nation. Nest of Stones derives its themes from the commonwealth of Kenyan experiences across ethnic and political divides. This idea of the interrelatedness of the peoples inhabiting the Kenyan space; is in a way, a veritable interrogation of the 'imagined community' leitmotif most often recoursed to when analyzing the tensions of co-existence in the postcolonial world. The heart of these amazing poems lies in Kenya but their philosophy of life is universal.