Happy New Year 2010!

Hi all,

Happy New Year. Happy New Decade.

And, may you have a very, very beautiful year and decade.

I have just emptied my camera of last years photos, and realised that there were some beautiful pics of Kampala that I would love to share with you. So, of course I am going ahead and sharing them. Here they are.

Kampala on Christmas Day was wet and cold. Very. But, it being home, all those details were forgiven. It was lovely, wonderful, beautiful. It was home.

Okay, from another angle...

The  prominent tower is NSSF House. The pensions fund which is as scandal ridden as the rest of.... Uganda,! Photo was from Gaba road turnoff. In the background is the Railway shed.

Of course, we had to sneak out of town. Went to the Lakeside, near Entebbe

The poor people who strayed into the lens of my camera, well. That is not a comment about their sexuality, ok? I know, Ugandans shun me. Dont want to make people feel bad because I photographed them without knowing! Ok, they might have looked good to me...! Which is a compliment, surely?

I love the lake. Love this view of the lake. Here it is, uncluttered.

It was a grey day. But, it was still beautiful. This is another corner of that lakeside bay that we visited.

But, Uganda is sunny, summer weather.

That was the week after Christmas. Though, there was lots of wet weather.

New Year's eve, yesterday, made up for all the wet. It was glorious, wonderful, beautiful weather. In the afternoon. And, the evening.

This is an unusual angle of Kampala for me.

I simply love the lovely Ugandan sunsets

This is the afternoon on New Years Eve. I wanted to take some pics of some guys, but, I had to take one of the city to disguise my intentions...!

This was the picture I intended to take. When I was taking the one above. I love Uganda's produce. Very. This pick up is loaded with mangoes, fresh from the trees. If you notice anything super succulent there, you will not be, err, mistaken.

Ha, did you see that?

Have a lovely new year. Have a lovely decade.
Peace, love, prosperity to you and all yours.

gug

An Afternoon

Been blogging sad things. But, even the deep, heavy rainclouds sometimes lift, even if it is momentarily...

I would like to share a poem about this lovely land of mine.

 

sprinkling of

hot, golden bright sunshine on

the deep, emerald jewel

green of leaves;

 

It covers all,

does the sun-

even the buildings

rust red and browns;

the crumbling slum

rooftops that like

mud of an overflowing

river touch valley bottoms.

 

The roads,

deeply holed asphalt

arteries peopled by an

abundance of men and

women, children, an overflow

like real blood cells do,

 

In the richer

suburbs trees tall and green

leaf the air-

mature compounds mimic

the solid, long gone green

cover of natural rainforest

and huge houses peep

jewels of colour in

green cloth of nature.

 

Kampala the

beautiful, indeed.

 

 

 

(c) gayuganda 02 April 09

Prison Freedom

I am free;

an outcast

from my world.

 

I live a world of freedom

hidden beneath a surface

of thorns, hate

hostility.

 

I swim. Free

but for the cage

of thought,

defining my freedom

and the hostile

active passive hate

of my mates.

 

Incredible-

 

These prison wall will

fracture, Inshallah;

 

meantime I will swim

free in a freedom

of unhindered thought.

 

©GayUganda 23 Mar. 09

Gay Agenda

there’s no

‘Homosexual Agenda’-

to that I’ll swear:

figment of the mind

Conspiracy theory

beloved by our haters

justifying their hate.

 

there is a

Gay Agenda-

that I swear

and I’m sworn to;

 

[if not there,

I will make it

milking desert sands

for life giving,

flowing waters.]

 

this is my

Gay Agenda:

respect for me as human

even when you hate;

Hands off my happiness

No lies told to hurt,

love to my love

No prison

No hate

No crime-

 

that is my agenda

the Gay Agenda

that I swear to.

 

© GayUganda 12 Mar. 09

Beauty

Beauty is

what makes my heart

skip a beat-

pause

in awe.

 

Reading

words of beauty

my mind feels like

an inexpert surgeon

trying,

testing,

teasing

the substance of thought

words with my mind;

sifting essence

for the pearls of

stupendous price.

 

©GayUganda 02 Mar. 09

Rain in Kampala

[I wrote this yesterday. Today, Sunday, it is a very beautiful sunny morning. Though, as I speak, there is a hint of water in the air. Soon, it might rain. Just wanted to share this with you out there!



Its raining.

A warm, slow rain.

Was raining when I woke up. My lovers warm body was too tempting. Too tempting by half. So, set off almost late for the morning. It was a drizzle then, but once out, I could see the dark thunderclouds to the east and I knew it was going to rain. Just prayed I would be able to get to work before the heavens opened up.

And they have, when I was already at work.

Rain over Kampala.


The sun is a favorite season, with the heat, and the brightness, and the sheer sense of light all around. But the rain is also a favorite season. True, the roads become ribbons of red mud, and we have to pick and choose where we step. The light is lost, and the overcast is usually heavy. But, usually, it does not last that much, which is a fantastic thing. Yet, when it is raining, the gentle drops on the roads, the splash of water as the vehicles go by, everything. It is a beautiful season.


--

Poetry, to me, is a wish, a desire, an itch

To take the world around me

Put it in words-

Not immortal, not transcendental,

Just words

That will lift from the spirit of the moment

Wrap in words to communicate;

Take muse's guidance

And make it sparkle and spin in words.


Take the day, today-

Grey skies, pregnant and heavy, releasing rain;

The mist of the morning, drizzle that will not let up,

Making so many of us, Kampalans

Uncomfortable with the, unusual wetness;

It is a bane

And a boon-

Muse's stirred, and listens

To the movement of the earth,

The faint stirring of the waters, though it be far off.

There's something in the air that I would put in words

Something in the skies, the dark clouds, the heavy mist

The traffic on the roads, the splash of rain on the streets;

The squish and squelch of water underfoot-

Common, common things

But nothing is more uncommon

Than me being here, listening to it, with the heart, the mind open.

Even my soul listens

To the mood of the moment-

Sombre ecstasy, the power of living, that of breathing-

There's something in the rain

And the skies, and the mood-

The heavy cars, rushing people

There's something beneath, that has muse stirring.





©GayUganda 20 September 2008

Compare, Contrast

(c) GayUganda

A Lovely Morning

Beautiful Uganda-

a country where all the days

have the golden touch of a yellow summer

woven into their very fabric.

Lovely Uganda,

a land fertile and green,

bronzed, dark, negroid people;

flowers growing like weed every which way,

the skies are a vivid sea blue,

snow white fluffy clouds riding that calm,

The sun. Oh, the Sun-

Prince of the skies sails that blue sea,

this supremely lovely morning.

Can I not be but happy and,

grateful I call this lovely land home?

© GayUganda 30 August 2008

The Mosque

A city on hills, in valleys;

solid, in the middle, in the dark and greens of foliage-

the cream and bronze of the New Mosque;

huge, squat, prominent, on Old Kampala hilltop,

in the clear morning air, bathed in the gold of early morning sun.

From Namirembe hill.

The Mosque framed. From Namirembe Hill

Ugly view, prettied up. Pic from Equatorial Hotel in the middle of the city.

Closer, from Equatorial

Close up, from next to Old Kampala Secondary School.

(c)GayUganda 27 Aug, 08

And the Bird's name is...

Now, I am going to share with you a bit of my weirdness.

I was late to work because of this bird. It lives near my house, and I see it often. But that day I was late at work, I had just gotten out of the house when I saw it. I stopped in the middle of the road to take the photos. And I believe the bird is a she. So, here we go.

No,

You cannot see it that well. Let us go closer.

Ok,

the contrast is not so good. But you can see the bit of black. And the green of the leaves.

Now, look towards the head end. Notice something beautiful about that?

It is the nose.

Now, you see it from the side. All the face to face photos were terrible. Couldnt come here.

And the bird was curious. Turned the head back and forth, trying to make out what this crazy human was doing.


Yes.

No, the bird is a Hornbill, I believe. Makes a good nice honking noise.

And the nose? The head is all nose, as you see.

So, I wanted to twitch the nose of a horrible little sister. First she wanted to be given an African name. And some suggestions were given.

She should have come to big brother to be told all the intricacies of African naming. A name means something. Imagine the ugly names which were given to her. They are here.

In protest, I decided to name her Kamese. She did not like the name, but since I am big brother, I growled, and she decided to accept it.

Now, I have decided to give this bird a name. I name the bird in the pictures DeTamble Phoenix.