“Haunt Me Well” by Daniel Many Owiti

Ogero, you know very well that I had a hand in your untimely death,
It is the same guilt that forced me to skip your burial ceremony,
Now, if you are planning to haunt me,
I suggest you do it once and for all,
Stop hinting at it,
Stop showing me the signs,
Like my car brake failing me in the middle of a busy highway,
Or dreaming that a prostitute stabbed me on the throat while I was having a drink with you at Soweto bar,
Don’t we all know that it is at Soweto bar where we enjoyed our last drink together?

Ogero, if you have included me in your ‘’to haunt’’ list,
Then I suggest you do it once and for all,
Stop hinting at it by making my pen disappear mysteriously whenever I go to withdraw the money that I was paid to have you killed,
Stop turning my vegetable soup red, as red as your blood,
If your plan is to choke me to death with food then do it,
Stop being a coward,
Be a man like you always claimed to be and haunt me properly!

Ogero, I am tired of associating every bad luck with you,
I am tired of guessing and speculating,
If you are man enough then appear in my bedroom tonight,
Holding a whip, dressed in your burial suit,
So that I’ll scream and hide under the bed,
And my wife will wonder why I am screaming and pointing at an empty wall,
Or make me run mad and confess in public that I killed you,
So that they can arrest me and throw me in jail once and for all.

Daniel Many Owiti is a Kenyan poet living in Nairobi who started writing in 2010. Daniel was born in Kano Plains, Nyando District, in Kisumu County. Daniel was shortlisted for the first Nyanza Annual Literary Festival Prize. He is the founder of Eldoret Poets Association, an online poetry group where poets post their work for discussion.