Mumbi Poetry

Directions

Mumbi Poetry Kenyan, writer, poet, curator. Currently reading poems in Copenhagen. IG: mumbipoetry

wapenziiii, if this finds you in Nairobi (or wherever you may be), I’ll be hosting an African studies reading room this ...
21/09/2026

wapenziiii, if this finds you in Nairobi (or wherever you may be), I’ll be hosting an African studies reading room this saturday morningggg (26th) at Cheche Bookshop and Cafe from 10am, you can also opt to listen in online (although it will primarily be in person) x. the theme is introduction to African studies, where I’ll give you an introduction to all my favourite African studies topics! plssss rsvp using the link in my bio, limited spots available, just select if you want to come in person or join online. okay thanks & see you then? 🫶🏿

15/09/2026

I think I’m finally (kind of) starting to understand what Mbiti meant by the future being virtually absent, and for me the best way I understand it is that time does not exist independently of me, because time has to be event based & relational, but I think that’s the beauty of re reading & it’s exciting because I know the next time I come back to this I’ll probably have new ways of understanding & that’s one part of the human experience I looove 🫶🏿

11/09/2026

very timely reading of this book I think because lately I’ve been thinking that maybe we need to decolonize what we actually mean by decolonization, just because it sounds more and more like a metaphor that I don’t even know what it means anymore lol. but also trying to reconcile this with what I believe to be decolonization as a very necessary and radical process that u just cannot do away with, but yeah lots of questions I think and the goal isn’t to get answers for me it’s just to expand the way I think through questions and being able to ask better & better questions 🩶🫶🏿

04/09/2026

on proverbs as a site where the philosophical systems & reasonings of a people are stored. I really enjoyed reading Arrow of God just for the use of language & riddles & proverbs, it makes language not just a tool of communication but also like a carrier of culture, such that you can understand the vocabulary but without understanding the realll meaning of the words you’ll feel like the people are speaking a different language haha. but yeaaa this was cool so just wanted to share (also to sing a little lol)

03/09/2026

I alwaysss appreciate a good book title & I think this Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God is such a perfectly titled book because of the layerssss, because to understand the title you have to stay with Ezeulu until the very end of the book to start to understand him as a character, but yeaa this isn’t completely a book review, just my thoughts on the title after reading the book x

31/08/2026

let’s read some poetryyyyy, this is a snippet from Song of Ocol (correctly pronounced ’Ochol’) by Okot P’Bitek (correctly pronounced ‘PaBitek’), I’m a huge fan of the idea that we can always unlearn & reinterpret what development or progress or modernity means outside of academic texts, and I think P’Bitek gives us the perfect lens for this analysis through his poetry, and me I’m just a huge fan of poetry either wayyy :)) 🤍

come spend your september saturday mornings with me? I’ve curated some topics to share with you, just one hour each satu...
30/08/2026

come spend your september saturday mornings with me? I’ve curated some topics to share with you, just one hour each saturday morning, and it’s completely online so you can join from the comfort of your beds or wherever suits you best 🤍 registration is required via link in my bio, & you will get a pdf with information on how to join the sessions (I’m my own IT manager so in case of anything just write to me haha) it’s also not sooo expensive like approx usd 4, but totally worth it I think 👉🏿👈🏿. also timing is East African time, I chose to do this early on saturdays so you can go about your days afterwards. but yeaaa I think that’s enough info, no prior reading or knowledge on the topics required, just come listen to me talk & it’s going to be a good time 🫶🏿 and maybe i will read a poem or two each session idkkk

30/08/2026

this is my reading list for the first ever ! before we can ‘shift the center’, we first need to understand our biases of where we think knowledge is produced & stored, & so this reading list I think is perfectttt for the theme of architecture, to understand how we can decolonize our understandings of infrastructure, development, progress, sustainability, & more 🫶🏿🩶

29/08/2026

this would be how I’d curate an African Studies curriculum today 🫶🏿 additional classes I didn’t mention would be contemporary African literature, museums & museumification, and also maybe legal systems but I think I’d put this under the philosophy class. but yeaaaa I think this would be nice

24/08/2026

who defined progress or the trajectory of linear development? it’s a very epistemic question, and using Mbiti, Walter Rodney, and Okot p’Bitek’s poetry, this is just an argument on decolonizing the colonial idea of progress and making a case against linear development x alsooo of course the use of ‘African’ is in no way to take away from the diversity of systems of thought across the continent, I am using it through Mudimbe’s lens (from The invention of Africa’) as the colonial invention in the colonial library xx

Address

Mombasa

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Mumbi Poetry posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category