Africa: Predators of Art, Entrepreneurship and Poet Ramblings · Global Voices
Njeri Wangari

There are predators and there are art predators and Gwendolyn Alley   is one such predator.
It is not often that you hear that one is an art predator, an enthusiast or aficionado maybe but not predator and this is what made me become very curious about Alley’s blog where she confesses her love for art.
This is what she says of herself:
Coleridge defines the aesthetic as that which engages the whole soul. Art Predator prowls for that which engages her soul and yours too, covering literary, visual, performing and culinary arts, environmental and social activism, outdoor pursuits including camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and climbing, and festivals including Coachella, Lightening in a Bottle, and Burning Man.
In her blog, one will find her poems, information on upcoming art activities as well as many other things that are of interest to her. Perhaps one might find the title of her blog a bit prudent as the artsy stuff gets lost in most of the other posts but this is her diary to write all her experiences whether arty or otherwise.
Her poem on a professor quite interesting.
The Professor had all the
Big Words on his side
of the plate.
And he was pushing
pushing pushing her words
around with his fork.
It remains to be seen
what it was they were
really arguing about it
It always starts with the words
and goes downhill from there.
Read the full poem here
Injete Chesoni is a multitalented artist with an entrepreneurial edge to cap it all. She has 2 blogs, one of them is Poetry and Art by Injete Chesoni. It features her creative expressions i.e her poetry, stories and art.
Injete also runs poetry Gifts, a blog for gifts ideas, gifts and poetry gifts. In this blog, she offers advice on how one can create poetry gifts as well as an introduction to Ekphrastic poetry.
She also features a range of products like poetry posters, books, magnets and even scary poems for Halloween
We sample one of her scary poems, Mystery in Old Town Mombasa
She had an air of mystery about her
as she sat in the window and stared
I was walking in Old Town Mombasa
and I remembered what they said
That ghosts haunt this town
and things are not always what they seem
There are genies dressed up as cats
and men in women’s bui-buis
So I stared in her eyes and scurried
Even as my mind paused to think
Was she really a woman in clothing
Or a supernatural being
Hon. Mwangi S. Muthiora has quite a lengthy title for someone his age, he is the Junior M.P, Githunguri National Youth Parliament in Kenya.
Born in 1982 in a family of nine, Simon Mwangi Muthiora is a member of Kenya National Youth Parliament and is the Junior M.P. for Githunguri Constituency.
Muthiora is also a writer and has written several Short stories, tenths of poems a full length Play among others. He writes for pleasure and his blog is a true testimony to this bold claim.
Two Hours Before  is the name of his blog and this is how he arrived at the befitting blog name;
IMAGINE TWO HOURS FROM NOW HOW THE WORLD WILL HAVE CHANGED, OR WORSE STILL IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN OR THE EVENTS THAT WOULD FOLLOW YOUR DEATH “TWO HOURS FROM NOW.” WELL, DON'T POSE AGAIN, “TWO HOURS BEFORE” WILL KEEP YOU ENTERTAINED. KENYA'S NEWEST POET IN THE HOUSE.
His kind of poetry is bereft of the emotional torrents that most poets venture into when writing love poetry. He speaks out on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Wife battery, death, wife inheritance, war among many other vices that are in Kenya, Africa and the world in general.
Sample his poem on FGM, A Woman's Meat
A WOMAN’S MEAT
Early in the morning
Before the birth of the sunlight
And the death of the moonlight
The old gypsy woman appeared
Her motive open
Clad in the humor of guilt
For a woman’s meat
Was all her target
In the name of cleanliness
Grinning, she closed in
Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha……..
“It is not painful granddaughter”
Read the rest of the poem here
Kojo Bafoe is a man, a father, a son, a brother, a husband, a friend, a poet, a writer, on a quest to make sense of this reality, with words. He lives in Johannesburg South Africa.
Kojo runs two blogs, Imperfectpoetry which is purely dedicated to his poetry and kojobaffoe a wordpress blog  where he writes his ‘ramblings’ as he calls them. The latter features anything from sports, to technology to poets who inspire him and encounters with Neo soul music.
His Imperfectpoetry blog gives one an insight to Kojo who renders himself as an imperfect poet who writes imperfect poems, quite a humbling self assessment which prods one to read his poems more keenly to see the imperfections.
When one reads his poem ‘Just words’  one feels that he had understated his poetry abilities. The brevity and precision in his poem has  not hint of imperfection.
Burn down the walls of madness
Get high off the fumes
Rage against the machine
But be home in time for supper
Throw off the shackles
Drink from the well of freedom
Live off the land of your fathers
But don't forget to pay rent
Read the rest of the poem here
He has been running the blog for 3 years now and though his last post was in February this year, one need not ask what has been keeping him distracted when they read his other blog. Every once in a while, one does need to ramble.