Keeping the Sun Secret

Marial Awendit

Description

The poems in this collection are deep musings and enigmatic thoughts of the poet, gained over many years spent seeking meaningful interaction and acceptance with the world around him. The author, a widely published poet from South Sudan seeks to be understood through his reactions to war, love, tyranny, injustice, faith and various circumstances.

Sujets

• African
• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd
• Date de parution: 11 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781779272676
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Keeping the Sun Secret Keeping the Sun Secret Marial Awendit

Marial Awendit

Keeping the Sun Secret

Poems

Marial Awendit

Edited by Tendai R. Mwanaka

Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd, Chitungwiza Zimbabwe * Creativity, Wisdom and Beauty

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Publisher:Mmap Mwanaka Media and Publishing Pvt Ltd 24 Svosve Road, Zengeza 1 Chitungwiza Zimbabwe [e-mail] [e-mail] https://www.mmapublishing.org www.africanbookscollective.com/publishers/mwanaka-media-and-publishing https://facebook.com/MwanakaMediaAndPublishing/ Distributed in and outside N. America by African Books Collective [e-mail] www.africanbookscollective.com ISBN: 978-1-77921-333-4 EAN: 9781779213334 ©Marial Awendit 2021 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical or electronic, including photocopying and recording, or be stored in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher DISCLAIMER All views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views ofMmap.

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Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………….………vii

Ode to Things that Cut……………………………….…………..1

Ode to the Owner of Lights……………………………………...3

Perhaps when it’s Kevin Carter…………………………………...8

What is Present Today……………………………………………9

Inventions………………………………………………………10

Bones Sleep……………………………………………………..11

Edges…………………………………………………………...12

who knows……………………………………………………...14

The Song of Leaks and Calabashes……………………………...15

Still Life with Silence……………………………………………17

Memorandum of Mis/Understanding…………………………...19

Address…………………………………………………………23

Lone Tree……………………………………………………….25

I Can Explain How My City is Never Lonely…………………...26

Drums…………………………………………………………..29

Abirmuoth……………………………………………………...30

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I Have No Blood………………………………………………..32

Self-portrait with Negation……………………………………...33

Residuum……………………………………………………….34

we are growing up………………………………………………36

For All Things…………………………………………………..37

Before I Learn to Let You Go…………………………………..38

Ode to the One I Will Deeply Love……………………………..40

if with my reflection……………………………………………..42

nobody told us…………………………………………………..43

In Which Language……………………………………………...46

A Possible Induction with My Creator…………………………..47

If the Two Fronts……………………………………………….49

Anything Desired………………………………………………..50

Memo for a Leaking Intestine…………………………………...51

Universe………………………………………………………...53

Dear God with a Karma in Hand……………………………….54

Nothing Happened Today………………………………………56

38 photographs of depression…………………………………...58

Another Body…………………………………………………...65

Two Tastes of the Lord’s Prayer after Roasting a Tortoise……...67

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Ode to a Shepherd……………………………………………...69

Why Did a Gazelle Run from a Lion……………………………70

The Fourth and Fifth Theories………………………………….73

This Quill……………………………………………………….74

Ode to My Body………………………………………………...75

Modus Operandi on Grief………………………………………76

Young Simba Sings to His Lion Uncle…………………………..77

Hour for Hauwa………………………………………………...80

Ode to a Country I Cannot Love When Dead…………………..82

The Cast………………………………………………………..84

Palm Trees on Stilettoes………………………………………...85

Horn……………………………………………………………86

MelaNilote……………………………………………………...87

akona……………………………………………………………91

Stars. Trees. Love……………………………………………….93

Ode to a Floodplain……………………………………………..94

random hallucinations…………………………………………..96

some of these places…………………………………………...100

Ayena………………………………………………………….103

gaze……………………………………………………………104

v

There Was No Doubt………………………………………….107

Juba in the Throb of War……………………………………...108

I Think………………………………………………………...109

Mmap New African Poets Series………………………………110

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Introduction

he poems in this collection are musings of the poet over reaction T s tolove, tyranny, injustice, faith and various war, the years of seeking meaningful interaction with the world. The author seeks to be understood through his circumstances.

The author plays the guitar thrown to him by injustice, war, love, tyranny, faith and various circumstances, albeit by use of his own cadence and judgment. The poems are therefore the experiential reflections of the poet.

 Through art, the author expresses that matters of personal importance should not be represented by those who are watching or listening to them, but by the ones that experienced them. It is the basis from which these works are developed. Whereas the artist can represent true grievances of other people, they ought not to forget their own because they are equally part of the public. An artist also needs to avoid being a villain by underrepresenting his/her own observations towards society.

Some of the poems in this body can best be understood in reference to the biographical details of the poet and the precincts of his person. That said, an act of injustice for example will appear slight until it happens to the beholder, unlike love which has mostly positive impacts of various degrees. The author sets out to highlight that gap in his poetry.

~ Marial Awendit

vii

Ode to Things that Cut

x I may allow you to play a wolf

Heavy with the want To be intentionally mistaken for a dove, And any furred bits to name you wolf

Can meet shredding fury.

x Come wielding honest hunger.

x

x

The white dove picking things in the woods

Will not wait for you to redden your teeth,

And the tender green herbs did not grow

Into a pawed trample.

Fly with the kites, Fly with the hawks,

If you wish every wolf should

Grow wings to catch birds.

The caterpillar boring through leaves

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Is covered with so much of itself

To wear your furs, and the butterfly

Sitting upon your back will never qualify

For a goat’s red thigh.

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