Just Sam

When Life Plays Like A Bad Movie

A low budget creation that should have had a different name,

Terrible retakes to the wrong scenes,

Bad cuts of the whole production,

Short scenes of the best parts,

Bad plot, bad direction, nasty actors,

No standout scenes

Except for one thing;

“She walks out of the house, carrying all his favourite things.

From the ‘donate to the needy’ box, a sock drops.

On her way back, she picks it up.

For a brief moment she remembers-

how you said this was your favourite pair,

how you were sad when it was lost,

but only for a brief while.

Because you could only feel sad just briefly.

She throws it in the bin.

You will never know she found your lost sock.”

And cut! The end

The Other Things I Want To Tell My Mother

Thank you.

For carrying our world on your shoulders all these years with grace.

For wearing kindness like a second skin that you never wanted to take off.

For using your lungs to take breaths for not just you.

For becoming a granite pillar holding all these homes together.

I know of days when you were tired,

tired to wake up, to breathe, to work, but did anyway.

I know of days when you were sick,

sick with pain, emotions, and never coming prospects, but you kept hope.

Thank you.

For giving me a place to not only rest my head but heart.

For never giving up on me on my dark days that don’t rest.

For being a mother to a broken child.

For believing in me even when I lost faith.

Thank you for being my mother.

Gentle hands

I met a boy with gentle hands.

His smile curved perfectly as he hugged.

Gentle pace.

A gentle testing-the-waters squeeze,

Gentle hands.

His 2 year old phone has no cracks,

I imagined how he could handle a heart.

I saw the way he handled his guitar,

Gentle and sure.

She sits comfortably between his arms,

His hands on her strings

Gently guide her until they settle

And she plays to his tune.

He handles her like love,

With a gentleness that unravels and breaks walls.

Gentle love,

Gentle hands.

I met a boy with gentle hands.

Made me almost believe there is an exception to the rule,

that maybe gentle doesn’t grow craws and cold with time,

that gentle doesn’t turn to pain

doesn’t hurt,

doesn’t break,

that gentle isn’t sometimes just a mask.

I met a boy with gentle hands.

I smiled back and went on my way.

My Greatest Fear

It’s a slow death,

Murder even.

When someone’s amnesia

decides to slowly erase you from existence.

Slowly erases the Oh, we did this, that and went here once.

And when you finally stop living,

They jog their memory when your name comes up and the only thing they remember is;

I once knew a person by that name.

UNDONE

I nearly broke the silence,

I almost called out to you,

I almost said ‘Babe, I found it’

But before the words left my lips,

reality hit me.

Now,

curled up in this bed,

whole sessions undone,

I whisper to your side of the bed,

‘Babe, I found your lost sock.

It had me undone’.

Ku Limbe

Bustling from morning till noon

Quite, only quite in darkness or maybe not…

Back and forth

Back and forth

Where do these people come from?

Ma socks 350, kuoda 300

Akasi ma boxer otchipa?

Some earsets maybe?

Duck before the cargo hits your face.

How is he keeping it steady?

Why is this minibus going the wrong direction?

Where is this water coming from? Did it rain?

Too many people, breathe.

Everyone is bumping into me or me into them,

Why am I being pushed about?

Where is my phone?

Where is my phone?

Ohhh, it’s in my bag.

Oh my bag???!!!.

Just Sam is a page and stage poet, feature article writer and voice-over artist with a few of her poems published in an online bi-weekly magazine. Her most notable poem is Alice’s Words which was published on Sheevolves Website. She currently has three other poems under publication in the 2025 Best “New” African Poets Anthology, appearing under her formal name, Yvonnie S. Kunkeyani.