By Sylvia Okweba

Alfred Nyagaka Nyamwange’s The Footfalls of My Heart follows closely in the footsteps of his earlier work, The Girl of Red Beauty, where he masterfully captures the fading, yet vibrant traditions of the Abagusii people. In both collections, Nyamwange emerges not only as a poet but as a cultural archivist, preserving, through poetry, the practices of the Abagusii, such as from birth and childhood to circumcision, marriage, old age, and death. The Girl of Red Beauty celebrates these traditions with reverence, and in his other book Footfalls of My Heart, the poet shifts his lens more intimately, presenting these cultural realities through the eyes of a Gusii woman.

Told from a distinctly feminine perspective, The Footfalls of My Heart narrates the emotional and social journey of a woman who is seen, chosen, loved, wed, and eventually sidelined by her Rimura (husband). This progression is illustrated clearly and chronologically across the book’s ten chapters. From the beginning of the book, the voice is hopeful and radiant. In the first chapter, the woman speaks of her lover with longing and tenderness:

I feel you like the rays of the dazzling sun,

nudging my brows, brushing my hair, touching my face…

Nyamwange uses vivid descriptions and rich imagery that bring the emotional and cultural world of the poems to life. The woman’s body is metaphorically likened to a landscape, reflecting both fertility and rootedness within tradition:

My belly is a flat field, the plain in which the calves race,

a plain in which the cattle trot.

My waist is a tangible pillar, on the footloose dancers…

The poet’s language becomes a vessel through which the reader not only visualizes the scenes but also feels the weight of cultural expectation and emotional yearning.

What sets this collection apart is its resourcefulness in exploring Gusii genealogy and origin stories. The poet carefully weaves oral traditions into his verses, as seen in lines like:

Rimura, aren’t you of the variant Nyakundi progeny,

Him who was born of Getutu of agatutu (small bush or bird)

and agankundi (small fist)?

Your cousins—the Abanyaribari’s eight strings: Bomobea, Bonyameyio, Bonyakoni, Mwamwonda, Mwamonda, Mwamoriango, Mwaboto, Bonyamasiacho and Bogeka—are all called banto b’Oisera.

Alfred also highlights the symbolic and practical role of cows in cementing and officiating relationships through dowry: Chiombe namakabe—cows create a mesh of network.

However, the collection is not without tension. From a feminist perspective, the poems interrogate gender roles and cultural expectations. The woman’s narrative reveals a deep emotional burden carried by wives in Gusii society. Once married, the woman is expected to hold the family together, even in the absence of physical and emotional help from her husband:

Like he is yearning to be away, to leave me to my devices as a woman,

to leave me to find a way to bring up our son…

She must raise the children, especially the sons, alone, who need a fatherly figure to guide them as they grow;

Yet this smiling, swaddled being needs you,

your fatherly hand, your encouraging voice,

so that he can grow into a man and not a sissy boy

who would cling to my skirts.

In later chapters, particularly Chapter Eight, the bitterness of abandonment becomes even more pronounced. The poet exposes the emotional neglect and infidelity that often mark the later years of marriage in traditional settings, especially for women.

But you know what? He always comes visiting,

and I tell him to go to those others.

Tight, gripping, sweet acrobatic givers…

Alfred Nyagaka Nyamwange’s The Footfalls of My Heart is not only a celebration of Gusii cultural heritage but also a moving exploration of womanhood within the Gusii tradition. This is a collection I would highly recommend for readers of African literature, students of gender and cultural studies, poetry enthusiasts, and generally anyone interested in the lived experiences of women in traditional societies. It is especially valuable for academic and literary circles exploring the intersection of poetry and cultural memory.