Blue Mothertongue

Poetry by Ngwatilo Mawiyoo

Reviewed by Mutheu Mulinge

Blue Mothertongue. The title was enough to make me look twice at the little book and wonder at what
exactly would cause one’s mother tongue to take on a hue. I was then informed that “blue” alludes to
state of mind rather than to a hue. Thus having had my blonde moment swiftly dispelled, I found Blue
Mothertongue to be a delightful and uncomplicated read in as far as Kenyan poetry anthologies are
concerned.

A collection of urban poems about growing up in Nairobi, it is quite the study in the diversity and richness
of variation that is possible with the open form of poetry. Blue mothertongue has a certain wandering in
meter from poem to poem that quite frankly will cause you to read from one poem to the next almost as if
it were a novel. I heartily wish this anthology was on the prescribed curriculum teaching list for English
literature classes in my younger years; when we struggled to find work by local poets whose open formed
prose we could simultaneously dissect for an A grade and easily prescribe to.

Poetry teachers should have a look at this anthology and perhaps use it as an example of the evolution of
poetry in Kenyan, especially in the urban space. Perhaps this is the reason why seasoned thespian and
poet John Sibi Okumu says of the anthology, “When those of her generation have children, Ngwatilo
Mawiyoo will have provided them with teachable, home grown specimens of the poet’s craft that will be a
worthy testament to her times.”

Each piece seems to stumble into the next almost as if it was not on designed so. Yet as you read
through, you can identify many situations on living in Nairobi which we can all relate to. Her works evoke
memories of the myriad experiences of growing up in Nairobi’s sub-urban estates, of living alone in a
foreign land, coming back home, going up country to your parents’ rural village and feeling a stranger as
you speak your mothertongue amongst your father’s people which resounds strongly through out this
collection. It is almost as if she has taken the experiences of her generation and preserved them for
posterity in sixty odd pages of emotionally bare and honest prose.

What is most endearing about this anthology is the simple use of imagery and other literary devices that
conjure up strangely vivid visuals of the situation, and emotions that carry through each individual poem.
Ngwatilo’s subtle use of imagery to describe situations in a variety of settings is a testament to her skill as
a poet.

The humour of eavesdropped conversations about the state of the nation that for a time was common
place in public transport vehicles is unmistakable in the piece ‘Heard: The traffic light monologue”. Her
refreshing use of the popular slang language Sheng in a typically Nairobi-speak fashion authenticates the
feeling that these are poems by a ‘Nairobian’ for ‘Niarobians’ and Kenyans at large.

Reading the piece ‘Sins we Committed’ I’m transported back to my own experience in my father’s
upcountry place of worship, where the loud gasps of surprise that this ‘town-bred girl’ should know how to
speak her mothertongue so well we clearly audible when I was asked to stand up and greet the church.

After a time in America is a poignant reminder of the danger of the loss of identify caused by the
environmental changes that surrounds each of us that were raised in one country and educated in
another.

The collection is not without its share of loves lost and sometimes not fondly remembered, as embodied
in Migrant dream and Dear E, while mourning the loss of a loved in Silver Bristle (Your voice). Ngwatilo
infuses a bit of comedy with the piece Heard: African Violet Monologue and the wisdom out mothers pass
on to us even when we are far away in Mothering Long Distance.
Ngwatilo’s honest representation of life and living in Nairobi in the self published Blue Mothertongue
poetry anthology is definitely a time piece that we, and (I suspect) our own children, will be able to relate
and refer to for a long time to come. It also does help that the collection comes in a compact booklet,
perfect to slip into your handbag or your back pocket, perfect for a little light reading.

(WC – 724)