Brainwave Musings

I wanted a place where I could write random thoughts. Unfiltered. To someone who has three or so minutes to waste on musings.

Written by: Juma Reagan

Bad Neighbour

First-Person

+1

Bad Neighbour

He looks straight at me, seemingly expecting me to say something, but also hoping I will keep my mouth shut. I know him, but I do not know him that well. Over the time I have lived here, I have seen quite a number of different girls come in and out of his apartment. He is a comrade with needs, I suppose.

•

Nov 8, 2026

Badiesto Badiesto

First-Person

+2

Badiesto Badiesto

We would stick our noses and necks out of the windows to catch some air, then release it in song and laughter. Singing "Badiesto! Badiesto!" as we wound our way to glory. It was nothing close to war cries, and even further removed from kindergarten rhymes, but the adrenaline rush..

•

Nov 7, 2026

I Hope They Remember You

First-Person

+2

I Hope They Remember You

That great and dreadful day is coming. It is as certain as the rising of the sun. It is inevitable. I have to prepare for it. The world has to prepare for it.

•

Nov 6, 2026

Day Five??

First-Person

+1

Day Five??

They will have you looking for them all the way to the borders of Sirare, through the bright lights and expensive corridors of Sarova Hotel. They won't care that you are desperately trying to do something of your own beyond debits and credits.

•

Nov 5, 2026

Favourites

Letters & Lovers

+2

Letters to Cheptolo, II: Lady Santa

Dec 21, 2025

•

2 min read

Letters to Cheptolo, II: Lady Santa

Lady Santa visited me the other day. She brought me an early Christmas present and promised me a book early next year. I cannot wait.

Letters & Lovers

+1

Leaving

Dec 6, 2025

•

1 min read

Leaving

She’s accused you of being unserious, of offering no scent of a future, of gambling and drinking away every weekend instead of finding a job, or even looking for one. And each time she left for her sister’s, she came back when your inborn Luo charm convinced her that tomorrow would be different. But tomorrow never arrived.

Ink Sessions

+1

Tattoo On The Left Boob

Dec 4, 2025

•

6 min read

Tattoo On The Left Boob

The tattoo was simply another way to define who she was, to cement her defiance against everything she despised in this patriarchal society. To defy the gods who took her parents too early. To challenge her grandmother, who was still too steeped in religion to understand that even gods, surely, had tattoos.

Vignettes

The Iniquity of My Father

Mar 16, 2025

•

8 min read

The Iniquity of My Father

Mzee’s last wishes

Archive

First-Person

+1

Nocturnals

Nov 4, 2026

•

2 min read

Nocturnals

She's seated on her balcony, smoking a cigarette and watching the dark sky turn. She seemed perfectly comfortable there, surrounded by the quiet of the night and whatever thoughts kept her company.

First-Person

+1

Waiting Room

Nov 3, 2026

•

3 min read

Waiting Room

Everyone watches her lips move. Her voice is a drab monotone, yet her words carry an unsettling finality. She is like some small god, capable of sentencing someone to the rest of their life with a stroke of her pen, all in the time it takes to finish reading this sentence.

First-Person

+1

Alpha Male

Nov 2, 2026

•

2 min read

Alpha Male

If I ever found myself in a physical contest over a girl, I imagine I'd want to lose a couple of rounds first. Not because I particularly enjoy losing, but because I'd want to know whether she'd stick around and love a loser.

First-Person

+2

Limbo

Nov 1, 2026

•

2 min read

Limbo

While it seems the rest of the world is busy counting its wins and gearing up for a grand finale, I am still awake, counting my losses. They have begun to overwhelm me. They are starting to feel unbearable, and not many things are unbearable to me.

First-Person

Macabre

Oct 18, 2026

•

4 min read

Macabre

Its voice, entangled with the wailing of children, the rolling thunder, and the voice of a pastor preaching somewhere in the chaos, is a haunting cacophony I vividly recall to this day.

First-Person

+2

Friends Indeed

Oct 11, 2026

•

4 min read

Friends Indeed

He's made three calls since we left Sarit. They must have a WhatsApp group where they look out for one another. In this industry, in any industry really, you need people who have your back. You can't always, if ever, depend on Atwoli and co to fight for your collective rights.

First-Person

+1

Old Men, Old Ways

Oct 4, 2026

•

4 min read

Old Men, Old Ways

For three days and three nights Eddie crawled, convinced he was seeing some Italian countess waiting for him at the end of his struggle. He crawled, convinced that the status quo had to change. He would no longer take business advice from an old man who eats steak all day, steams the hairs on his body, and talks to mythical dwarfs in his head.

First-Person

+2

There Are No Bitches In Uganda

Sep 13, 2026

•

5 min read

There Are No Bitches In Uganda

It is difficult to reconcile the man she describes with the man I know. He is barely present in the homestead nowadays. He is there in the flesh, but most of the time he appears to be somewhere else. He stares into the distance. He sleeps. He looks at the sky for long stretches..

First-Person

+1

Crying Over Spilt Porridge

Sep 6, 2026

•

5 min read

Crying Over Spilt Porridge

In my growing wisdom, I told her the old adage that felt too perfectly suited to the moment: she should not cry over spilt ice cream. I felt like Jesus explaining a parable to a particularly difficult crowd. I told her that perhaps this was the universe sending her a message. She needed to stop crying over whatever else had already happened and could no longer be changed.

First-Person

An Epiphany On Pooping

Aug 30, 2026

•

3 min read

An Epiphany On Pooping

Pooping is a strangely instructive process. You push a little, then think about something else. You notice the smallest sign of progress, then check your phone, or try to recall a dream. You catch a moment when the body seems willing, then let things settle again.

First-Person

+1

Bugs

Aug 9, 2026

•

2 min read

Bugs

This has more to do with fomo than bugs.

First-Person

+1

Something’s Coming

Aug 5, 2026

•

3 min read

Something’s Coming

Something so bad it has brought universes together, and people are getting serious about their lives.

...

Recommendations

The doctor recommends these. . .

background