POETIC DELIGHTS BY PRAISE MK NKHOMA-EAST AFRICA
1. Between Airports
I live in suitcases,
Between the scent of home
And the silence of places that do not know my name.
In one country,
I am my mother’s child.
In the other,
Just another face learning how to pronounce
The alphabet of belonging.
They ask where I’m from
I point to a scar
That stretches across two maps.
I tell them I come from
Everywhere I’ve left pieces of myself.
They don’t understand.
But I keep walking,
Carrying two languages in one throat,
Hoping one of them learns to forgive me.
2. Postcards to a Motherland
I write to you,
Not with letters but with longing.
The place I left
Still lives inside the way I greet strangers
With my eyes lowered.
Here, the sun feels different.
The bread is soft,
But it does not taste like your hands.
They call me by a new name.
I answer,
But part of me stays quiet.
Back home,
Maybe someone waters the soil I never said goodbye to.
Or maybe it forgets me,
Like a child outgrowing an old song.
3. Customs
They searched my bag
But didn’t see what I really carried
My grandfather’s stories folded in my socks,
The grief of being neither here nor there
Stuffed behind passport pages.
I wear two skins
One for comfort,
The other for survival.
When they ask about “home,”
I hesitate.
It’s a shape I once knew,
Now soft at the edges,
Like a language I’m slowly losing
But still dream in.
AUTHOR:
Praise Mk Nkhoma is a young poet from Malawi whose words rise from quiet pain and deep reflection. With a heart rooted in real-life stories, Praise has written a powerful book of poetry that captures emotions many are too afraid to name. His work has been featured in numerous anthologies and magazines, gaining attention both locally and internationally. Through every verse, Praise writes to connect, to heal, and to speak for those who suffer in silence.
Comments