Personally I love everything the writer says herein. I even found myself nodding my head to some of those statements. I believe as feminist we shouldgive space for the diversity within us. Some of want to be nice and feminine some of us want to be strong and in the face. ALL OF US BEAUTIFUL ANDACCEPTED within the fraternity. as women we should be allowed to dress how we feel most beautiful. We should be proud of our sexuality and sensuality and those of us who would like to express it should be free to do so. To deny us that is to chain us into what fits as ‘proper woman’ hence castigating some of us as ‘improper women’. I long for the day that women will feel beautiful whether in a sari, a garb, a buibui, or even naked. I long for the day that women are not judged harshly for being the sensual beings that we are. For me that woman in the photo is beautiful and representing many beautiful sensual feminist women, and she would be just as beautiful to my eyes if she was all covered up in any traditional way. Let us embrace woman hood with all its glory and glamour... With all due respect Sarapai, let us allow women to feel beautiful in all their shapes, sizes, dressing, backgrounds. Lets not lock some out for their ways of expression.

 

Sophie:

Allow me to address you concerns as follows, not as literary critique but as a student of literature who has continuously been engaged in learning more about Aesthetics in the spoken and written word.

As my Literature Proffesor.David Mulwa, Francis Imbuga and even Amateshe would say, let Literature be enjoyed for art sake! In so doing you actually get to know the message the persona is trying to communicate without the distortion of literary criticism and stylistics.

If all poets and writers were to write in the same style, just as you expressed as your concern in the Phenomenal Woman not marching up with this poem, then the world of Poetry would undergo what we call dearth.I wish to now go into history, When Okot p’Bitek wrote the anthology of Songs of Lawino, many Publishers refused to publish his work, since nobody had ever seen such kind of poems before,

The publishers were worried that his work would not sell since they were not in pentaic   syllables ,not rhyming and did not match the Robert  Frost,Ezra Pound,Shakespeare or any other Classical Poet that sold at that time.

It was later that Song of lawino recived many accolades and appreciation among the many arts circles  and whenever  Okot’P Bitek is mentioned ,this story of how he began can never be left out.

What am I trying to say?lets enjoy art for Art sake!