MK Kuol
MK Kuol is a self-taught poet from South Sudan. He was recently shortlisted for A Proper Poetry Pamphlet Competition and The Wanjohi Prize for African Poetry. Featured on Everscribe Magazine, The Selkie Publications, ANMLY, Beach Chair Press and elsewhere, MK Kuol is the author of Twice the Size of Sun (Poemify Publishers, 2024) and Song Her Thighs Sing.
MK Kuol loves dark rooms, coffee, moon-gazing, folk music (Arizona JJ's to be exact) and conspiracies.
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To the girl who is asking me to dedicate to her a love poem
to the girl asking me
to dedicate her a love poem,
do you know what you are asking me
to do?
you are asking me to sing ballads
at the funeral of children bombed dead
in nasir
because of their ethnicity
long before they knew what ethnicity was
you are asking me to unplant
those unbeautiful imageries from nasir―
children, skinned by “raining fire,”
to pink bundles / / a stretch of charred bodies
wrapped in blood-soaked sheets / / burned tukuls / /
a fissure in the ground exhaling flames,
inundating social media―& replace them
with imageries likening you to lilies & roses…
you see
your face is fairer than a ripe moon,
your smile, a tint of morning star
& dedicating to you a love poem,
as grace-faced as you are,
would be as easy as swallowing my saliva
but there are things i would rather
do with my poetry
at this trying moment
other than dedicate you a love poem―
like dirking my poems into the heart
of that monstrous greed that leads shepherds,
in this country, to slay their own herds
like carpentering my poems into a dummy jesus
& bask in the hollow hope
they might lazarus those deceased children
back into the innocent bliss of childhood
like concocting a comfort-inducing balm with my poems
to soothe the souls of the bereaved
& reassure them of better days beyond
this cruel days―
but (anyway), on a second thought,
i will dedicate to you a love poem
is it ridiculous for a man not to smile
because he is toothless
when his heart is foaming with happiness?
you see,
times are dark, impenetrably dark,
& given in to other passions but romance
but still, i will dedicate to you a love poem
a love poem the legendary john donne
would have been proud to write
a love poem that would unrank shakespeare’s
“sonnet 116” as the finest love poem ever.
true, times are dark, impenetrably dark,
& given in to other passions but romance
but still, i will dedicate to you a love poem
i will dedicate to you a love poem
& pretend that that starry smile of yours
is the torch lighting my feet
through all this darkness…
i will dedicate to you a love poem
who knows that love poem might be the nectar
that will lure
the elusive bee you are into my hold?