Celebrating One Year Anniversary: The Year That Was

(27^th October 2010- 27^th October 2011)

Echoes of the Hills will be one year old one second after Midnight tonight. Tomorrow, the 27^th October 2011, will be a different day. I really hope that the echoes will show that difference!

To celebrate this achievement, let us be pilgrims to the hills and see what is on offer. (Well, I thank a friend Michael Onsando who through another friend came up with the various headings below.)

1.      My Most Popular Poem

From the page views, February1984 carries the day with 142 Page views . Hot on pursuit is  My Feet This Way That Way with122 Page Views. The third is Where is Dedan’s Body? With 107 Page Views.

February 1984 depicts a horror of what happened in Kenya in what has been called "The Wagalla Massacre". The ghosts of the past are unrelenting. It is one of those poems that weighed upon me heavily as I wrote and it deserves to be rightfully at position one.

My Feet This Way That Way sneaked its way into the race and came second. Honestly speaking, I don't know how it managed this far. May be I could be missing on some things.

Where's Dedan's Body? is a poem that attracted the attention of my role model Philo Ikonya. As a patriot, I felt that I needed to give a voice to what Dedan fought for. It is good that his voice was heard if the hits are anything to go by.

2.      Poem that Didn’t get the attention it deserved

This is a difficult one. Well, owing to the kind of message that Echoes of the Hills wanted to drive across, these three poem were given a raw deal in terms of views they received, comments they benefited from and the popularity they deserved. 

 1. Pestle and Mortar 

 2. Sometimes in April

 3. Your Honour, I Plead Guilty

 Pestle and Mortar is a call to peace, Sometimes in April an inspired poem from the Rwandan Genocide and Your Honour, I Plead Quilty is a commentary on the justice system. Pegged on these themes, I felt that those three poems above cry out for attention.

3.      The Poem Whose success surprised me

 I   I must be quick to add that there's something wrong about mentioning success of a poem whose main theme was to eulogize somebody. But I look at it differently. When the poem is there to celebrate somebody's life and achievements, then the mention of the word success should not attract disapproval.

     Therefore, the poem that comfortably takes pride of place is Fare Thee Well (Eulogizing Professor Wangari Maathai. I had published my condolence on my icon's Official Facebook wall. It was quoted on the CNN's website and later in the Daily Nation Newspaper. More importantly, it created to me important links to people who are in the environmental world and on a personal note it buttressed my love for nature and the environment.

4.      My Most Controversial Poem

They are many especially on the political labels. Suffice it to say that 'controversial' here means that the poem spoke of truth as I perceive without fear.

On the lead is Blame it on Me.

Second is Political Speech.

I cannot trace Cry, Beloved Kenya, Cry. This should have come as second.Even a search in google can't trace it. That is how controversial the poem is!

5.      The Poem I am Most Proud of

 I mostly write poems on social justice. In this respect, therefore, a poem that captures well a social message or commentary about the society carries the day.

Thus, Child of Shame  leads.

My attempt at Martin Luther King Jnr's I Have a Dream in I Have a Dream: Lorot's Version.

On that note, the comment box, Facebook Fanpage, twitter and inboxes are now open to receive your birthday messages. Thank you for being the reader of Echoes of the Hills. It is your support that has enabled this blog this far.