Identity.

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Kenyan Iam
Tribal lists call me Rendille
Tribe-all-lists call me Kenyan
18 I turned
Five years down the line
To the Area chief I went
Weh Gichana natogha wapi (
Young man where do you hail from)
And many other nonsensical questions
Enough to fill a Yellow pages volume
Were answered
After weeks and months of this
“Research project”
With clear objectives
To find out about my family,clan, subtribe and other archaic archelons
The chief signs up the form
To the district registry miles away is the next
“Perfect destination”
Fingerprints, lights and cameras
My eyes hurt
12 months, 24 months
My Identity card is yet to come
What my ancestors did
To make their generations look
Like suspects at first sight
Is still an hornets nest
My Identity seems
A threat to national security
If wishes were horses
Second class citizenry, like I seem to be
Would have sold our locale
On OLX and gotten
The hell out of here
For what’s the sense of

Being a stranger in my own country?

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